Following the Supreme Court’s order on Thursday restraining the Allahabad high court from delivering the verdict on the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit, the district collectors and superintendents of police in Madhya Pradesh have been asked by the state government to remain alert. MP home minister Umashankar Gupta told
this newspaper that the collectors and district police chiefs have been given instructions to closely monitor the situation and it is for the collectors to decide whether prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) should be enforced, withdrawn or continued in their respective districts. Similarly, he said the collectors would use their own discretion when it comes to ordering the closure of educational institutions.