India's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the land at the center of the country's most contentious religious dispute would pass to a trust, paving the way for the construction of a Hindu temple at a site where a mosque once stood.
The site in the town of Ayodhya must pass to the trust within three months, the judges said. A Muslim group will receive land at an alternate location for a potential mosque.
The verdict in the decades-old dispute is a major victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won reelection in a landslide in May. The building of a temple to the Hindu god Ram is a long-held objective of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
In 1992, Hindu extremists tore down a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya to make way for the temple, an act that set off deadly communal riots across the country. Hindu nationalist groups believe the mosque was built at the site of Ram's birthplace where a Hindu temple once stood.
Ahead of Saturday's verdict, authorities beefed up security precautions across the country. In India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, schools were shut in anticipation of possible unrest. Restrictions on public gatherings were implemented in Delhi and Mumbai, India's two largest cities, according to local news reports.
