UP: Section 144 imposed across the state ahead of Ayodhya case verdict

Ahead of the Supreme Court's verdict on Ayodhya land dispute, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), prohibiting unlawful assembly has been imposed across the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. The long wait for the Ayodhya case verdict will come to an end on Saturday. According to the information given by the additional registrar of the Supreme Court, the apex court will be delivering its final verdict on November 9 at 10:30 am. The Uttar Pradesh Government ahead of the verdict has also declared that all schools, colleges, and training centers will be shut from November 9 to November 11.

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Security arrangements

The security in Ayodhya has been beefed up. So far, 18,000 police officers, 3,000 state Rapid Action Force staff and 4,000 Central forces have been deployed in Ayodhya to maintain law and order. Sources suggest that the forces have been directed by the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that nobody is allowed to spread any communal message, including political and religious leaders within the State.

According to sources, State Chief Secretary and UP DGP themselves will be on ground zero to monitor the situation. The District Magistrate will be taking an hourly update directly from the Chief Minister's Office. The affected district and the neighbouring 3 districts will be in a lockdown position. Moreover, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will remain in a 'ready to move' position. Apart from this, nine helicopters have been made available for urgent movement basis as part of the security arrangements and three separate choppers will be present for aerial monitoring. Drones will also be used in sensitive areas to monitor any spurious activity.

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SC Development

The Ayodhya land dispute, which is one of the longest standing legal battles the country has seen, is expected to have large scale communal ramifications irrespective of which side the verdict favors. Various security prevention and other arrangements have been made to ensure peace and harmony in the country once the verdict is pronounced tomorrow. Section 144 has been already been imposed by the state in Kanpur, Bhopal, and Nagpur. A five-judge constitution bench had been hearing day-to-day arguments in the case that lasted 40 days. The final verdict was reserved by the Supreme Court on October 16.

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(With inputs from ANI)