The Supreme Court on Monday refused to provide security to erstwhile special court Judge Surendra Kumar Yadav, who had delivered the verdict Babri demolition case in September at a CBI special court in Lucknow. All 32 accused in the demolition case, including eminent BJP members Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, were acquitted on September 30th.
60-years-old SK Yadav was to retire in 2019 but was granted an extension by the Supreme Court of India to attend the trial of the demolition case which he had been hearing since 2015. On his last working day, the former judge had delivered the verdict of the acquittal of all 32 accused.
“Anti-social elements brought down the structure. The accused leaders tried to stop these people,” he had said, emphasising that merely delivering a provocative speech was not sufficient enough to prove guilt.
“Having perused the letter dated September 30, we do not consider it necessary to continue (the) security,” the apex court stated on Monday morning. SK Yadav had sought extension of his personal security considering the sensitivity of the matter.
The hearings which involved testimonials of evidence from 351 CBI witnesses and about 600 exhibits had concluded on September 1 and the former judge had started writing the judgment from the very next day so as to adhere to the deadline assigned by the apex court.
