Bengaluru: 28 years after the Babri masjid demolition, a special CBI court in Lucknow acquitted senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, among others. 

The judge SK Yadav, who had got several extensions for hearing the case and pronouncing the judgment, held that the act was spontaneous and not pre-planned, thereby granting exoneration to the accused. 

The court also held that the Babri Masjid demolition was not a criminal conspiracy. 

The hearings on Babri Masjid demolition involved evidence from 351 CBI witnesses and about 600 exhibits. As the hearings ended on September 1, the judge had started writing the judgment from the very next day to meet the deadline set by the Supreme Court.

In April 2017, the Supreme Court had asked a special court to complete the trial within two years with daily hearings. Later, it was given several extensions and when the judge asked for more time, the court had extended the deadline to September 30.

Earlier, all the 32 accuse were asked by the judge to be present physically in the court, but 6 were not present. 

It was on December 6, 1992 that the Babri masjid was felled. As many as 2000 people had died in the following riots. 

Last year, the Supreme Court had ruled the disputed land in Ayodhya in favour of Hindus, but had held that the demolition of the mosque was wrong. 

The court had also tasked the Union government to form a trust in a matter of 3 months to oversee the construction of the temple. At the same time, the court had also granted 5 acres of land for the construction of a mosque. 

It was on August 5 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the all-important bhumi pujan for the grand temple construction. The temple construction has begun and will be completed in 36-40 months’ time.