NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the security of former special judge SK Yadav, who had pronounced the verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
A bench, headed by Justice RF Nariman and also comprising Justices Navin Sinha and Krishna Murari, was considering the former judge’s request to continue his personal security in view of the sensitivity of the case decided by him on his last day in office.
“Having perused the letter dated September 30, we don’t consider it appropriate to continue providing the security,” a Bench headed by Justice RF Nariman said.
Yadav had sought extension of his security in view of the sensitive nature of the case in which he delivered the verdict.
Special Judge Yadav had on September 30 acquitted all 32 accused, including senior BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti, in the Babri Masjid demolition case, saying there was no conclusive evidence against them.
In his 2,300-page verdict, Yadav had said the CBI could not produce any conclusive evidence against any of the accused.
Yadav, who had been given one-year extension till September 30 by the Supreme Court, retired the same day after pronouncing the judgment.
The verdict, which came almost 28 years after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, by ‘karsevaks’, noted that late Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal wanted to save the structure because Ram idol was inside.
“Even the VHP leader, late Ashok Singhal, was trying to stop the karsevaks from demolishing the disputed structure because the idol of Lord Ram was also inside the structure,” Yadav had said in the verdict.
Last year, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Apex Court had ruled that the 2.77-acre land claimed by both the Hindus and the Muslims would be handed over to a trust for the building of a temple.
The top court had also ordered allocation of five-acre land at another site in Ayodhya for building a mosque.