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Babri Verdict: 351 Witnesses, Yet ‘Insufficient Evidence’

Did the fact that it has been going on for close to three decades affect the handling of the case?

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Twenty eight years after the Babri Masjid was demolished, all 32 accused of plotting a conspiracy and incitement that led to the destruction of the 15th century mosque were acquitted for lack of evidence. This includes some big names from the BJP and the Sangh Parivar such as LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti among others.

Although the CBI special court examined as many as 351 prosecution witnesses — including journalists, locals and police/government officials — Special CBI judge SK Yadav observed there was no conclusive proof that the 1992 demolition was a pre-planned criminal conspiracy, and held that it was just a “spontaneous outpouring of emotions”.

In fact, he notes that some of the accused tried to stop the "anti-social elements" that were engaged in the destruction of the mosque.

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