Who Demolished Babri? What About SC’s Observation? Twitter Asks

The Supreme Court had observed the Babri Masjid demolition to be “an egregious violation of the rule of law.”

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Lucknow, presided by special judge Surendra Kumar Yadav, on Wednesday, 30 September, acquitted all the 32 accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

Social media was flooded with reactions moments after the judgment. While some hailed it as justice for the accused, others were of the opinion that the verdict went against the Supreme Court’s observation during the Ayodhya title suit judgment.

Senior leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, and Sakshi Maharaj were among the accused who were acquitted on Wednesday, with the court observing that the demolition was not pre-planned and that there was not enough conclusive evidence of the alleged conspiracy of the accused.

‘No One Demolished Babri Masjid’

Following the judgment, a common refrain on Twitter was “no one demolished Babri Masjid” and “Babri fell on its own.”

Several took to social media to express their surprise at the verdict that took 28 years and yet concluded with no convictions despite the Supreme Court’s observations about the demolition being “an egregious violation of the rule of law.”

‘Justice in New India’

Senior advocates Prashant Bhushan and Sanjay Hegde raised concerns about the nature of the judgment, asking “today we have a verdict, but does that bring justice and closure? History will tell.”

Many on Twitter, including lawyer Saket Gokhale, expressed their disagreement with the judgment. “But to say that the accused were restraining the mob & not inciting it just adds a LOT to the pain,” tweeted Gokhale.

What About SC’s Observations?

Several people took to Twitter to point out the contradiction in the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Ayodhya title suit dispute case in November 2019 and the special CBI Court’s verdict. Historian S Irfan Habib tweeted, “ While SC called it a criminal conspiracy, lower court says no one guilty.”

Among those in the entertainment and media sectors, RJ Sayema, in a tweet alluding to the judgment, said “justice is in custody,” while film maker Anubhav Sinha described LK Advani as having drawn “ a bloody line across the soul of this country.”