There is a cautious calm in northern India after a court ruled on Thursday that a disputed holy site in the town of Ayodhya should be shared between Muslims and Hindus.

The judges gave control of the main contested section of the site, where a mosque was torn down in 1992, to Hindus. Other parts of the site will be controlled by Muslims and another Hindu sect.

More than 200,000 police had been deployed across the country and temporary jails were set up as the government prepared for Hindu-Muslim riots in the wake of one of the most divisive court cases in the nation's history.

On this episode of Inside Story, we ask: Just what security implications will this ruling have in the coming days and will judicial process put an end to this combustible issue?

Inside Story, with presenter Laura Kyle, discusses with guests: Sudhan-shu Mittal, a senior leader of the BJP, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of All Parties Hurriet (Freedom) Conference, Marie Lall, a South Asia expert and associate fellow at Chatham House and the University of London.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Friday, October 1.