LUCKNOW (INDIA) – Former Indian deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani and other Hindu nationalist leaders were acquitted by a court on Wednesday in a case regarding the demolition of a mosque at a controversial site 28 years ago. The court cited lack of evidence.
The demolition of the historic mosque sparked riots across the country leaving 3,000 dead and the decades-long dispute has stoked Hindu-Muslim animosities. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for Hindu revival helped it come to power.
After a lengthy legal battle, the court said there was not enough evidence to link any of the accused to the violence, defence lawyer Manish Kumar Tripathi said.
“The court did not accept the evidence, it was not strong enough,” he told reporters.
Advani was the leader of the BJP then and is among the 32 people accused of criminal conspiracy and inciting a mob to raze the 16th-century Babri mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya in 1992.
The site where the mosque stood is revered by Hindus as the birthplace of Lord Ram.
The court blamed miscreants in the mob for the incident, adding that leaders such as Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, another former cabinet minister, had tried to prevent the mob from turning violent.