Babri Demolition Case: Allahabad HC To Decide On Admissibility Of 'Criminal Appeal' Against Order Acquitting LK Advani, 31 Others

The Allahabad High Court is set to hear a plea filed against the order of the Special CBI Court at Lucknow that acquitted all 32 persons accused of hatching the criminal conspiracy behind the demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque on December 6, 1992.The plea, originally filed in 2021 as a criminal revision plea will now be treated as a criminal appeal and the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh will hear the same on the point of admissibility on August 1, 2022.Essentially, the plea has been filed challenging the Judgment of the Special CBI Judge S K Yadav (delivered on September 30, 2020) holding held that the demolition of the mosque was not premeditated and that there was no criminal conspiracy behind it.The verdict, originally in the Hindi language went on to acquit persons including prominent BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Kalyan Singh etc. Read more about the Judgment here: Babri Demolition Case : Anti-Socials Climbed On The Dome; They Can't Be Called Ram-Bhakts, Says CourtThe plea has been filed by two Ayodhya residents - Haji Mahmood Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad who claimed to have witnessed the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992.On Monday, when the revision plea came before the single judge, the Senior Counsel Syed Farman Ali Naqvi submitted that by an inadvertent mistake, the revision had been filed by the revisionists, who claim to be the victims and in view of the Amendment made in Section 372 Cr.P.C. w.e.f. 31st December 2009, the revisionists ought to have preferred an appeal. It was his further submission that in the exercise of the powers under section 401(5) Cr.P.C., this court may treat this revision as the appeal of the revisionists.Considering the aforesaid submission and after hearing Shiv P.Shukla, the counsel for the C.B.I., and Vimal Kumar Srivastava, counsel for the respondent-State, the revision was directed to be treated as an appeal under section 372 Cr.P.C. The Registry was directed to give a number to the revision as Appeal under Section 372 Cr.P.C. and the same was listed on August 1, 2002, amongst the first top ten cases in the list for admission. Lastly, the counsels for the C.B.I. and State were given the liberty to raise their objections regarding the admissibility of the appeal.Case title - Haji Mahboob Ahmad And Anr. v. State Of U.P. Thru. Home Secy. Lucknow And Ors. Click Here To Read/Download order

Babri Demolition Case: Allahabad HC To Decide On Admissibility Of 'Criminal Appeal' Against Order Acquitting LK Advani, 31 Others

Sparsh Upadhyay

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