UP Police special task force to provide security to Ayodhya Ram temple

A special task force of the Uttar Pradesh Police will provide a comprehensive security cover to the upcoming Ram temple complex in Ayodhya, a senior government functionary said Tuesday.

The temple spread over 70 acres will be open to the public after Prime Minister Narendra Modi does the "pran pratishtha," or the consecration ceremony of the Ram Lalla idol, on January 22.

A special task force of the UP Police will secure the temple premises including the main complex, built in the traditional Nagara style, that will be 380 feet long (east-west direction), 250 feet wide and 161 feet high.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that has been guarding the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex, after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, will gradually be withdrawn, the functionary said.

The paramilitary force had thwarted a terrorist attack that took place on July 5, 2005 at the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid with the killing of five militants.

The Supreme Court, in 2019, delivered a historic verdict settling a temple-mosque dispute that went over a century back.

The court backed the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site, and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for building a mosque.