As many as 77 people in Uttar Pradesh have been arrested for publishing inflammatory content on social media since the Supreme Court pronounced judgment in the Ayodhya land title dispute on November 9. Action has also been taken against 8,275 posts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
UP Director General of Police OP Singh earlier said an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been set up for the first time in the state to keep an eye on reports emerging from the media, social media and other sources, both before and after the pronouncement of the verdict in the case.
Meanwhile, the police force also undertook prohibitive measures like clamping section 144 to prevent unlawful assembly and undertaking patrolling in sensitive and busy market areas to send a stern message against elements, who attempted to use the Supreme Court's verdict on Ayodhya case to provoke sentiments of the common people.
The police also said they had sealed a local office of right-wing Hindu nationalist group Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha and detained its national Vice President Ashok Sharma. They did not provide further details.
In another part of the state, at least seven men were arrested for setting off firecrackers or creating disturbances while distributing sweets in celebration.
Ayodhya verdict
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, in a unanimous judgement, decided to give the ownership of the 2.77-acre disputed site to the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas. "The right of Ram Lalla to the disputed property is subject to the maintenance of peace and law and order and tranquillity," the apex court had stated.
As alternate 5-acres of land at a prominent place in Ayodhya will be given to the Sunni Waqf Board for the either by the Central Government or State Government.
The court directed the Centre to formulate within three months a scheme to set up a "Trust with a Board of Trustees or any other appropriate body" under The Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993, with powers "including the construction of a temple".
(With agency inputs.)
