India, home to the world's third-biggest Muslim population, called Thursday for the US to take "strong action" to prevent a planned Koran burning ceremony and demanded a media blackout.

A small Florida church headed by pastor Terry Jones plans to torch the Islamic holy book on Saturday's anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks despite global outrage and calls from American leaders to abandon the event.

Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, in a strongly worded statement after a cabinet meeting, condemned the "deplorable act" that was "obviously calculated to increase bitterness and strife between religious groups."

"We hope the US authorities will take strong action to prevent such an outrage being committed," he said.

"While we await the actions of the US authorities we appeal to the media, both print and visual media, to refrain from telecasting visuals or publishing photographs of this deplorable act."

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday also urged his US counterpart Barack Obama to intervene and stop the ceremony.

India has the world's third-largest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan, calculated to number 160 million in a recent study by the US-based Pew Research centre.

Muslims are a small minority in India's 1.2-billion multi-faith population, however, which is dominated by Hindus and vulnerable to flare-ups in sectarian tension.

Ever anxious about communal violence, India's statement on Thursday also reflects government concern about a forthcoming court ruling on a domestic religious dispute.

On September 24, a court in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh will hand down a much-awaited ruling on an ownership dispute between Hindus and Muslims over the site of the Babri Mosque in the temple town of Ayodhya.

In 1992, the 16th-century mosque was razed by Hindu zealots, sparking riots in which 2,000 people died -- the worst inter-religious violence since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

The local government has sought 35,000 extra paramilitary police for security duty as the state prepares to deal with any fallout after the court decides which religious group should have the site.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the ruling will be one of the top political challenges for his country.

"The way the country handles this -- the aftermath -- will have a profound impact on the evolution of our country," he was quoted as saying on Tuesday in The Hindu newspaper after a meeting with editors.

In Florida, pastor Jones has indicated that he is praying for guidance on whether to go ahead with the burning event after warnings from US Afghanistan commander General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.