Challenging acquittals in Babri demolition case, two witnesses move HC

Two witnesses in the Babri Masjid demolition case moved the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday, challenging a special CBI court’s order acquitting all 32 surviving accused in the case, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, and BJP leaders MM Joshi, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar.

Special court judge SK Yadav had delivered the judgement on September 30 last year, his last day in office. He acquitted the accused citing lack of evidence. In the 2,300-page order, the court rejected evidence from photos, videos and speeches of the accused. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a chargesheet against 49 people but 17 died during the trial. It did not challenge the acquittals.

Now, Haji Mahboob Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad have filed a writ petition against the judgement, according to their lawyer Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi.

The advocate said the petition was submitted to the registry office of the Lucknow bench and the matter was likely to come up for hearing next week.

Mahboob and Akhlaq witnessed the demolition of the mosque on December 6, 1992, and their houses were damaged in arson and looting.