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Ayodhya verdict today: Judgment at 10.30 am; PM Modi calls for peace

As a precautionary measure, all educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh will remain closed.

New Delhi: The much-awaited judgment on the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya is set to be pronounced at 10.30 am on Saturday.

The Constitution Bench will pronounce its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court’s September 30, 2010 judgment that trifurcated the disputed site in three parts, giving two parts to Hindu litigants — the idol of Lord Ram Lalla and Nirmohi Akhara — and one to Muslims.

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Friday held a meeting with the chief secretary and DGP of Uttar Pradesh and took stock of security arrangements ahead of the verdict, officials said.

In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to the people that the priority should be to strengthen India’s tradition of maintaining peace and harmony after the verdict is pronounced on Saturday.

“The Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya would not be a matter of victory or loss. My appeal to countrymen is that it should be our priority that the verdict should strengthen India’s great tradition of peace, unity and amity,” he said.

As a precautionary measure, all educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh will remain closed on Saturday.

Elaborate security arrangements have also been made across the state and a special vigil is being maintained on social media. If required, checks would be imposed on it, the official said.

The five-judge bench, comprising CJI Gogoi, Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer, had reserved the verdict on the continuous dispute on October 16 after hearing the arguments that lasted for 40 days.

Besides the argument based on faith and belief cemented by the oral, documentary evidence based on the travelogues of various traveller’s and the archaeological evidence, the core of the arguments was that the place under the central dome of the now-demolished Babri Mosque was the birth place of Lord Ram.

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