UP HC to hear plea against acquittal of Babri mosque demolition accused
Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court will hear Wednesday a plea against the acquittal of all 32 accused persons, including BJP veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, in the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque case.
The petition filed on January 8 by two Ayodhya residents, Haji Mahmood Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad, will be heard by a Lucknow bench of the high court.
The petition, filed by two Ayodhya residents with All India Muslim Personal Law Board executive member Zafaryab Jilani as their counsel, was on Tuesday listed for hearing by a bench of Justice Rakesh Srivastava.
While filing the petition last week on behalf of Ayodhya residents Jilani, who had also been the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, had said the court was moved because the CBI has not yet appealed against the last year's judgment.
The two Ayodhya residents, in their revision petition, have also claimed themselves to be witnesses in the trial against the accused persons.
The Babri mosque was demolished by "kar sewaks" on December 6, 1992. After a long legal battle, the special CBI court on September 30, 2020, had pronounced the judgment in the criminal trial and acquitted all the accused, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in 1992.
The trial judge had refused to believe newspaper cuttings, video clips as evidence as their originals copies were not produced in the court and the case rested on these pieces of documentary evidence.
The trial judge had also held that the CBI could not produce any evidence that the accused had a meeting of mind with kar sewaks, who demolished the structure.
Assailing the trial court's findings, the petitioners have pleaded that the subordinate court committed an error in not convicting the accused persons despite the presence of ample evidence on record.
The trial judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in the right perspective, the petitioners have contended their plea.
The petitioners have also sought that the record from the trial court is summoned, the judgment of September 30, 2002, be set aside and all the 32 accused be held guilty and punished accordingly.
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BJP worker’s 16-year-old son allegedly casts eight votes in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad; Video viral
Lucknow (Farrukhabad): A viral video has surfaced showing a 16-year-old son of a BJP worker allegedly casting eight votes to the saffron party during the ongoing general elections in Uttar Pradesh. The video has sparked controversy, and the opposition has urged for prompt action from the Election Commission of India, reports scroll.in.
The video shared by the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on micro-blogging site ‘X’, showed the youngster recording himself while casting multiple times in a series of instances. The incident reportedly took place in Khiri Pamaran village, which falls under the Aliganj Assembly constituency within the Farrukhabad parliamentary seat. Mukesh Rajput, the sitting MP, is the BJP candidate in this constituency. Polling in Farrukhabad occurred on May 13 during the fourth phase of the general election.
In the viral video, the youngster is seen casting eight votes in total, all for the BJP, one by one with different clippings.
The youngster in the video has been identified as Rajan Singh Thakur, confirmed his father, Anil Singh Thakur to the Scroll.in. Anil Singh Thakur is the gram pradhan (village head) of Khiri Pamaran and a member of the BJP.
Anil defending his son told the Scroll that the ‘Video misrepresented his son,’ and claimed that the voting was done when the machine was being tested in some instances and other clipping of him voting on behalf of mentally and physically disabled voters was merged and made into a video.
Despite the Anil's caims, the video has drawn significant criticism. Subhash Chandra Prajapati, the additional district magistrate of Farrukhabad, confirmed to the Scroll that the administration will file a case soon. He mentioned that the returning officer is investigating the matter following a directive from the chief electoral officer in Lucknow.
The opposition has been vocal in its criticism, with Akhilesh Yadav demanding action from the Election Commission. In his social media post, Yadav accused the BJP of undermining the electoral process and described the party's booth committee as a "loot committee." The Congress party also called on the Election Commission to take action, in a ‘X’ post the party wrote, “Dear Election Commission…are you watching..a boy is voting 8-8 times ... .at least wake up now.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, took to ‘X’ to express, “Fearing and seeing their defeat, the BJP is attempting to undermine democracy by pressuring government machinery to deny the mandate. The Congress expects all officers performing election duties to remember their constitutional responsibilities despite any pressure from those in power. Otherwise, once the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc government is formed, actions will be taken to ensure that anyone will think ten times before violating their 'Oath to the Constitution'."
Following the video's circulation, Naval Kishor Shakya, the Samajwadi Party candidate in Farrukhabad, filed a complaint with the district election officer. Shakya's complaint alleges that Rajan Singh Thakur cast votes after snatching voter information slips from other voters and that he was assisted by Dinesh Thakur, the local police station's station house officer. Shakya has called for re-polling at the affected polling center.
In a related incident earlier in May, Gujarat Police arrested two BJP workers for allegedly casting bogus votes and live-streaming the act on social media in the Dahod constituency. The Election Commission conducted re-polling at the affected booth following the incident.
The opposition INDIA bloc, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of failing to take prompt action against election model code of conduct violations.
अपनी हार सामने देख कर भाजपा जनादेश को झुठलाने के लिए सरकारी तंत्र पर दबाव बना कर लोकतंत्र को लूटना चाहती है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 19, 2024
कांग्रेस चुनावी ड्यूटी कर रहे सभी अधिकारियों से यह अपेक्षा करती है कि वो सत्ता के दबाव के सामने अपनी संवैधानिक ज़िम्मेदारी न भूलें।
वरना INDIA की सरकार बनते ही ऐसी… https://t.co/fk4wXL8QZy
