advertisement
Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
“I don’t think one should be particularly surprised at the final verdict which has come today.”
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said the decision of the CBI special court on 30 September to acquit all 32 accused before it in the key criminal case relating to the demolition of the Babri Masjid was not a surprising one, despite the time taken for it to happen and the huge amount of material in the public domain about the incident.
But why?
It is because of the very fact it has taken 28 years for this trial to be completed, and only thanks to the Supreme Court’s intervention in 2017, that Hegde believes the decision was to be expected.
But how did special judge SK Yadav find that there was no conclusive evidence to prove the demolition of the mosque was a pre-planned conspiracy, despite all the photos, videos and witness accounts?
So does this mean vindication for LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others?
While Hegde acknowledges that politically, this will no doubt be spun as a vindication of the accused, and a complete exoneration, he reminds us that there have been several cases where acquittals at a trial court level have been overturned on appeal, though he stops short of saying this verdict is likely to be reversed just yet.
So will there be an appeal? And will the CBI do better on the appeal?
Hegde believes the CBI’s approach may be quite similar to the way it responded to the 2G scam case, where also all the accused were acquitted. The CBI is yet to be granted leave to appeal by the Delhi High Court in that case, with hearings on just that procedural point dragging on for two years now.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)