It is heartening to hear the Supreme Court make critical observations on the so-called ‘bulldozer justice’ being meted out to people accused of one or the other crime.
Justice B.R. Gavai who is heading the bench is reported to have said, “How can anybody’s house be demolished only because he is an accused?” His lordship further reportedly said, “Even if he is a convict, it can’t be done without following the procedure as prescribed by law.”
These are strong words and timely. Coming from the Supreme Court their significance cannot be lost on anyone. I hope the government of the day and its law-enforcing agencies are listening.
It is not for the first time that the Supreme Court has taken cognisance of matters concerning demolition of buildings. Earlier such cognisance was taken in 2022 in the wake of demolition of a house at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. in which one Javed Mohammed lived with his family. The house was reduced to rubble on the pretext that it was constructed without obtaining necessary sanctions and clearances from the authorities. It later turned out that the house belonged to his wife and it was gifted to her by her father two decades ago. It also transpired that no notice of unauthorised construction or demolition was ever given to his wife. The truth was that the demolition was carried out to teach Javed a lesson for allegedly masterminding a protest against the remarks made by Nupur Sharma, the then national spokesperson of BJP against Prophet Mohammed. It was clearly a case of retributive action by the state.
The Supreme Court had then observed that “demolition has to be in accordance with law, and could not be retaliatory”. However, the observations remained unheeded.
In a piece in the Indian Express on June 18, 2022, in the context of the demolition of Javed’s house, I wrote “It is perhaps too late in the day in so far as the aggrieved family is concerned, but better late than never.” I further wrote, “Now that the matter is before the Supreme Court let us hope and pray that nobody has to join Faiz Ahmad Faiz, a great poet of the sub-continent in saying, ‘Bane hain ahle-a-havas muddaaee bhi munsif bhi / kise vakil karen kis se munsafi chahen [When people have become both the plaintiff and the judge, whom should we appoint as lawyer and from whom should we seek justice]’?”
We do not know what happened in the Supreme Court in Javed’s case, but what we do know is that it is business as usual in so far as illegal demolitions are concerned. Some states, particularly, the BJP-ruled states are vying with each other in demolishing houses, shops and slums of a particular community, all in the name of ‘illegal structures’, without following the procedure as laid down by law.
Two recent incidents, one in Madhya Pradesh and the other in Rajasthan have once again triggered the demolition debate.
In Madhya Pradesh a sprawling structure built on 20,000 square feet belonging to Congress leader Shehzad Ali was reduced to dust on the ground that it was illegally built. The vehicles parked in the premises were also smashed and were turned into scrap. The demolition followed a day after Shehzad Ali was accused of being among the key men who allegedly led a violent mob which pelted stones inside Chhatarpur Kotwali Police Station allegedly resulting in injuries to three police personnels. The mob was protesting and demanding action against Ramgiri Maharaj who allegedly had made objectionable comments on Prophet Mohammad and Islam during a religious event in Maharastra’s Nasik district. Close proximity between naming Shehzad Ali as an accused in the stone pelting incident and demolition of his house suggests that the latter action was a reaction to Shehzad Ali’s alleged involvement in the stone pelting incident. While we do not know whether any action was taken against Ramgiri Maharaj for his alleged remarks on Prophet Mohammad, the action against Shehzad Ali was swift and instant.
In the other incident, the forest department of the Rajasthan government and municipal authorities demolished the house of the family of a minor Muslim boy who had allegedly stabbed his classmate, declaring that it was constructed illegally on the forest land. The department reportedly sent an eviction notice to the family in the morning and by the afternoon the house was raised to the ground. It is being alleged that there are more than 200 houses constructed in the locality but only the house which the juvenile’s Muslim family rented was targeted by the authorities.
The above instances are not isolated ones. They unfold a pattern which some state governments have adopted in the case of a minority community to hand out instant justice to the alleged violators of law depending upon who is their target. It is no secret that in most cases victims belong to a particular community. It is also no secret that some people, though minuscule in number, support such blatant and naked violation of the rule of law. The chief minister of one of the states is being openly hailed for his such action and is revered as “Bulldozer Baba“. We need to remember for all times the golden words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere.”
Bulldozer justice flies in the face of rule of law. Timely intervention by the Supreme Court will hopefully stem the rot which at present runs deep. It is nobody’s case that persons occupying public land illegally or those making constructions in violation of municipal laws should not be sternly dealt with. But all actions of the state or its instrumentalities must conform to the rule of law.
Laws are already in place. What is needed is strict adherence to the same in letter and spirit not only by the violators but also by the authorities responsible to prevent such violations. It is no secret that constructions in violation of municipal laws or encroachment on public land take place under the watch of municipal authorities, nay, with their connivance overt or covert. The malaise runs much deeper, but the axe only falls on the violators while the authorities who were equal partners in the crime invariably go scot free.
Why no punitive action against them?
Let us remember what Plato said in Gorgias. “Suffering wrong is worse than doing it.”
Justice Rekha Sharma is a former judge of the Delhi high court.
