Babri Masjid demolition: AIMPLB to move SC against acquittal

LUCKNOW: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has said that it will move the Supreme Court to challenge the acquittal of the accused in Babri Masjid demolition case.

A Special CBI Court in 2020 acquitted the 32 accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

The accused included top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of the time, including former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.

On December 6, 1992, thousands of Hindu karsevaks demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. They believed that it was built atop the ruins of a demolished Hindu temple marking the birthplace of Lord Rama.

When the mosque was demolished, a case was already going on for the ownership of that plot of land.

The Supreme Court in 2019 awarded the plot of land to the Hindus. A Ram Mandir is now being constructed on that land.

Earlier this year, two Ayodhya residents Haji Mahboob and Syed Akhlaq moved a revision petition before the Allahabad High Court. A two-judge bench of the High Court rejected the revision petition on November 9, saying the appellants had no locus to challenge the judgment as they were not victims of the case.

AIMPLB executive member and spokesperson, Syed Qasil Rasool Ilyas, said the board has now decided to move the Supreme Court against the acquittal.

“We are certainly going to approach the Supreme Court as the apex court in the Ayodhya verdict itself has accepted that the demolition of Babri Masjid was a criminal act. The five-judge Supreme Court bench that delivered the historic Ayodhya verdict had termed the Babri Masjid destruction a serious violation of the rule of law and the accused are still out of the reach of law,” Rasool added.

Rasool said the appellants Haji Mahboob and Syed Akhlaq were CBI witnesses and their houses were attacked and burnt on December 6, 1992, by a mob that was gathered by the accused. He said Mahboob and Akhlaq lived in the close vicinity of Babri Masjid.