A special judge holding trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case on Monday requested the Supreme Court for six months’ time to conclude it, PTI reported. The case involves Bharatiya Janata Party veterans like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. The special judge also said that he was due to retire on September 30.

The matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court before a bench headed by Justice RF Nariman. The court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to apprise it by July 19 about a mechanism by which the tenure of the special judge could be extended till he delivers the judgement in the case.

On April 19, 2017, the top court had ordered day-to-day trial in the case, and said that it should be concluded within two years. The court had also restored criminal conspiracy charges against Advani and Joshi. It also restored charges against several other Hindutva leaders who too had been acquitted in the case.

In its ruling, the court put down a number of directions, including that there will be no adjournments under normal circumstances, and that the judges hearing the case will not be transferred.

On December 6, 1992, the mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by lakhs of karsevaks who had gathered at the site from across the country. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country. The karsevaks had claimed that the land on which the mosque stood was the birthplace of Ram.