[Babri Demolition Case] Allahabad HC Dismisses Appeal Against Acquittal Of 32 Accused

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the appeal filed by two residents of Ayodhya against the acquittal of 32 accused persons in the Babri demolition case.

The appellants, Haji Mahboob Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmed, claiming themselves to be the victim of the Babri demolition incident had alleged that the investigating agencies did not investigate all the allegations and the trial court too ignored the statements made by them.

A division bench of the high court had reserved the judgment on the point of maintainability of the appeal on October 31, 2022.

The Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court at Lucknow on 30 September 2020, acquitted all 32 accused from the charges of criminal conspiracy in the Babri demolition case. The list of accused persons included top BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Nritya Gopal Das, president of the existing Ram Mandir Trust, Uma Bharti and BJP leader Vinay Singh.

The Special Court had considered the December 1992 incident in which the Mughal-era monument was razed to the ground by a mob of kar sevaks to be accidental rather than planned and had ruled out the conspiracy theories.

A revision was filed against the judgment of the trial court, however, later on, the nature of the plea was changed and the revision was altered into a criminal appeal.

Case Title: Haji Mahboob Ahmad And Anr. v. State of UP