No untoward incident was reported from Uttar Pradesh and the situation in the temple town of Ayodhya remained normal with devotees in large number queuing up outside the makeshift temple for darshan of Ram Lalla after the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit on Saturday.
“The situation is absolutely normal and people in good number had darshan of Ram Lalla at the makeshift temple even on Saturday,” said ADG Ashutosh Pandey, who was sent to Ayodhya to supervise security and ensure communal harmony in the temple town.
The ADG said the markets also remained open and the crowd, which was small in the morning, swelled by afternoon and people thronged the temples for darshan.
After taking rounds of Muslim-dominated localities in Ayodhya, Pandey said appeals were sent out to all religious leaders not to make any objectionable comments which could disturb communal harmony.
On Saturday evening, DGP OP Singh said that the situation was peaceful across the state and not even a stray case of violence was reported from anywhere.
Singh said that social media was being monitored closely and for the first time, an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) was set up at Dial 112 headquarters in Lucknow to keep a tab on reports emerging on the media, social media and other sources before and after the pronouncement of the apex court verdict.
“The Chief Minister also visited the EOC and spent some time with police officials and enquired about the state’s security situation,” the DGP said.
“Earlier, in the last 10 days, around 80 cases were registered against people using social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to spread misinformation aiming to trigger communal disharmony in the state,” said ADG (Law and Order) PV Ramasastry on Saturday, adding that 12 cases were registered on Saturday and 37 persons were arrested for objectionable posts on social media.
Meanwhile, reports from districts, including Ayodhya and Lucknow, confirmed that markets were closed in the morning hours but most shops opened by late afternoon though there were few buyers.
Steps taken by the state government to ensure peace after the Ayodhya verdict, however, triggered panic and vehicular traffic was conspicuously thin on streets and people preferred to stay indoors, glued to the TV sets to get the latest news.
It was a curfew-like situation in most districts while in Lucknow, people remembered September 30, 2010, when the three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court pronounced its judgement in the Ayodhya title suit. Then too, roads in Lucknow and other cities of the state wore deserted looks as the verdict was pronounced in the afternoon.
The state government had already announced a three-day holiday for all educational and training institutions from Saturday. It being a second Saturday, all government offices and banks were also closed. Liquor shops in the state were also asked to keep shutters down till Sunday.
With the government taking no chances, security personnel were the only people visible on the streets in some areas of Lucknow. At several places, the security personnel used public address systems to inform the people not to create any problem or make any inflammable comment on social media.
Passenger trains were empty while government buses plied in less numbers as passengers were very less on some routes.
A report from Gorakhpur said that just one passenger purchased ticket for the Gorakhpur-Ayodhya passenger train on Saturday morning and the entire train was empty.
Meanwhile, nine youths were detained for violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Meerut city. As per reports, Laxman Sharma was detained in Civil Lines area for posting controversial content on the social media. An FIR under IT Act was registered against him.
In Nauchandi police station area of Meerut, three youths were arrested when they burst crackers after the Ayodhya verdict. Besides, some other youth were arrested for violating Section 144 under Brahmapuri police station area for trying to create ruckus after the verdict. Four youths were detained in the same police station area for disturbing peace.
In Brahmapuri police station area, the police sealed the office of Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and confined its national vice-president Ashok Sharma to his residence. However, SSP Ajay Sahani said that four youths were arrested in Meerut on Saturday for violating Section 144 while others were detained and then released.
Meanwhile, in Baghpat, an inebriated youth raised objectionable slogans and abused people from the other community on Barut road and was later arrested.
In Noida, two people were taken into preventive custody for allegedly spreading rumours on the apex court verdict on Saturday. “One of them called the police to report a planned violence by a community but his claim was found untrue. The other is an office-bearer of a local outfit and has a history of making malicious comments and remarks,” SSP, Noida, Vaibhav Krishna, said.
Meanwhile, a mosque in Etawah hoisted a white flag on the city’s tallest minaret to spread the message of peace and communal harmony.
The sajjadanashin of the dargah, Shoaib Ahmed Naimi said that Islam gave a message of peace and the flag was been placed with this aim only.