NEW DELHI: Fearing unrest, Indian police have reportedly arrested more than 500 people ahead of a Supreme Court ruling due Saturday on a hotly disputed religious site in the holy city of Ayodhya.
India’s top court said late Friday it will deliver a verdict on Saturday morning on the decades-old spat over the future of a small piece of land claimed by both Hindus and Muslims that in the past has sparked deadly religious riots.
Hindu hard-liners want a temple built on the site, currently barricaded off after a 16th-century mosque there was demolished during 1992 riots that left 2,000 people dead.
Hindus believe the mosque was built over the site of the birthplace of their god Ram.
Security was tightened across India in the run-up to the ruling, and Uttar Pradesh state police chief O.P. Singh told the Economic Times that more than 500 arrests had been made.
“The main message to the police force is to maintain peace at any cost,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Most of the suspects were taken into custody while a further 70 people were detained over social media posts, he said — warning that the Internet could be blocked locally if required.
Singh added that police had also identified more than 10,000 people he described as “anti-social.”
A police spokesman declined to comment to AFP.
In recent years, Ayodhya has become a rallying point for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Some senior BJP members are being tried separately over their role in the mosque’s 1992 destruction.
In 2010, a High Court divided the disputed land between Hindu and Muslim groups, but both parties appealed to the Supreme Court, which has since repeatedly put off a verdict.
Media reports say Modi has told ministers to refrain from making comments on the case that could fuel tensions.
For India’s minority Muslims, the dispute and a recent clampdown in Muslim-majority Kashmir have become symbols of the hostility that they say they face from the government.
Hindus make up about 80 percent of India’s 1.3 billion population, while there are about 200 million Muslims.
Hundreds arrested on eve of verdict on holy site in India’s Ayodhya
Hundreds arrested on eve of verdict on holy site in India’s Ayodhya
- India’s top court said late Friday it will deliver a verdict on Saturday morning on the decades-old spat over the future of a small piece of land claimed by both Hindus and Muslims
- In recent years, Ayodhya has become a rallying point for Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes Japan’s Chugoku region
- Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no irregularities at the plant
TOKYO: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 hit the western Chugoku region of Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, followed by a series of sizeable aftershocks.
The epicenter of the first earthquake was in eastern Shimane prefecture, the agency said, adding that there was no danger of a tsunami. Chugoku Electric Power operates the Shimane Nuclear Power Station, about 32 km (20 miles) away.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no irregularities at the plant.
A spokesperson said the utility was checking on any impact on the plant’s No.2 unit, which has been operating since December 2024 after being shut down following the March 2011 disasters in Fukushima.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas.
The earthquake had a seismic intensity of upper-5 on Japan’s 1-7 scale, strong enough to make movement difficult without support.
West Japan Railway said it had suspended Shinkansen bullet-train operations between Shin-Osaka and Hakata following the quake.
