India is bracing for violence with a potentially explosive court verdict reportedly ruling that a disputed holy site, over which deadly riots have broken out in the past, will be divided.
Al Jazeera and the BBC both reported there would be a three-way split, between two Hindu parties and one Muslim.
Lawyers for the Hindu petitioners said it would be split, reported the BBC. However, the network said, judges gave control to the main section, over which disputes have raged, to Hindus, while other parts would be given to Muslims and separate Hindu sect.
Thousands of soldiers patrol
Hundreds of thousands of paramilitary soldiers patrolled the streets across northern India on Thursday. Police have arrested more than 10,000 people to prevent them from inciting violence, while another 100,000 had to sign affidavits saying they would not cause trouble after the verdict to decide if the site would be under Muslim or Hindu control.
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The website of the High Court of Allahabad released a summary of the ruling, but crashed under the pressure, reported a string of Twitter users.
The 16th-century Babri Mosque in the town of Ayodhya was razed by Hindu hard-liners in 1992, setting off violence that killed 2000 nationwide. The 60-year-old fight over the compound has shaken the core of modern India and led to repeated outbreaks of bloody communal violence.
On Thursday afternoon local time, a three-judge bench hearing the case was formed and the litigants were in court.
An AFP reporter outside said a stream of officials had entered the court house in Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, where 200,000 security forces are on patrol.
Hindus say the mosque, built in 1528 by the Mughal emperor Babur, was erected at the birthplace of their god, Rama. Hindus want to build a temple to Rama there.
A 'fortress'
The High Court in Uttar Pradesh was to decide whether the holy site will be given to the Hindu community or returned to Muslims who want to rebuild the mosque. And the Times of India reported earlier that the state has turned into a 'fortress.'
Helicopters hovered over holy sites as people entering temples were checked with metal detectors, police said.
"We have deployed around 200,000 security personnel at sensitive places to prevent any violence post the Ayodhya verdict," top state official Shashank Shekhar Singh said.
Last week, the government banned bulk texting to stop people from sending mass messages that could incite violence.
Concerns were also raised in areas outside of northern India.
The verdict comes just days before the opening of the Commonwealth Games in the capital New Delhi on Sunday, as hundreds of international athletes pour into the city.
In Hyderabad, capital of the southern Andhra Pradesh state, authorities deployed more than 20,000 additional police. Some 460 arrests to stop possible violence were made, said police chief Abdul Khan.
Orders were posted banning the gathering of more than five people in the city, and liquor shops were closed and religious processions and meetings barred, said Khan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh published an appeal for calm in ads in Indian newspapers on Wednesday.
"There should be no attempt whatsoever made by any section of the people to provoke any other section or to indulge in any expression of emotion that would hurt the feelings of other people," he said.
The parties to the dispute have also appealed for calm, since the loser in the case will almost certainly appeal to the Supreme Court, meaning a final decision could still be years away.
India's Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said India was now different from in the 1990s with a new generation more interested in economic advancement than communal divisions.
