India’s BJP leaders acquitted in Babri mosque demolition case

Court clears 32 men of inciting clashes that led to destruction of site by Hindu rioters in 1992

A special court has acquitted all senior figures in India's ruling party of their role in the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu rioters, in a further court victory for the Hindu nationalist government over the bitterly disputed holy site.

All 32 men, including the former deputy prime minister LK Advani, three leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and a sitting BJP politician, were cleared of inciting the violence in 1992 that led to a 16th-century mosque in the city of Ayodhya being torn down by an armed Hindu nationalist mob.