Exactly 10 years ago, on September 30, 2010, a court of three judges Allahabad High Court had delivered the verdict in the lawsuit for the title of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid. The verdict was later challenged in the Supreme Court.
Of the 48 defendants named in the original indictment filed by the IWC in 1993, 32 of them, including Advani, former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara and Ram Mandir Tirth Kshetra Trust Secretary Champat Rai face trial. The remaining 16, including Bal Thackeray and Ashok Singhal, died during the course of the trial.
The court had heard the final arguments of the defense and the prosecution on September 1, 2020 and reserved its ruling, CBI lawyer Lalit Singh told TOI.
In its order of April 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered that the trial be completed within two years by holding daily hearings. The Lucknow court hearing began on May 21, 2017. However, the SC extended the deadline for three months and again for one month before the two-year deadline expired.
The criminal case is related to two FIRs filed with Ayodhya Police in 1992 after the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6. The first – FIR number 197 was against ‘lakhs de kar sevaks’ for the demolition of the structure and FIR number 198 against 48 officials of Sangh Parivar for conspiracy.
The trial in the above case continued in two courts in Rae Bareli and Lucknow, but the SC, in its order of April 2017, requested a joint trial in Lucknow. The CBI relocated SC in 2012 after the Allahabad High Court dropped the criminal conspiracy charges against Advani and 13 others in 2010.
The SC reinstated the conspiracy charges and called for a speedy trial. All the defendants had to appear in court to request bail when the regular hearing began on May 21, 2017. However, several of them, such as Advani and Joshi, appeared by videoconference for the hearing during the confinement.
The CS had prevented the court from bringing Kalyan Singh to trial while he was governor in Rajasthan. His trial began in September 2019 after his tenure in Rajasthan Raj Bhavan It ended.
In its arguments, the CBI had insisted that the defendants conspired and instigated kar sevaks to demolish the disputed structure, while the defendants had alleged that there was no evidence against him to prove his guilt. The defendants also said they were falsely implicated in the case by the then Congress-led government in the Center due to political vendetta.
The CBI produced 351 witnesses and around 600 documentary evidence to prove the guilt of the accused.
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