The Indian authorities have tightened security in the city of Ayodhya in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on the location of the Babri mosque, which is disputed by Muslims and Hindus.
Hindus and Muslims have been split for decades around the 16th-century mosque, and tensions have been running high in the city since 1992, when Hindu zealots destroyed the mosque, sparking sectarian violence that killed 2,000 people.
The Supreme Court is expected to conclude on 17 October the hearings in an appeal of a 2010 decision that the two groups share the site, with the majority of the Hindus.
The measures, which prevent more than four people from gathering, were imposed on August 31, according to Ayodhia judge Anuj K. Jha, who wrote on Twitter late on Sunday.
Under the new orders, "drones and unidentified objects prohibit the aircraft and all that can be supplied with a weapon without the prior permission of the authorities of the region."
The Supreme Court is expected to rule before Chief Justice Ranjan Goji retires on November 17.
It is noteworthy that the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Hindu nationalist campaign to build a new temple at the site of the destroyed mosque.