The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Haryana government has told the Punjab-Haryana high court that due procedure was followed during the demolition of “illegal” houses in Nuh following the communal clashes in the region.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government informed the court that it was not a case of “ethnic cleansing”, referring to the court’s earlier comment on the demolitions.
The court had, on August 7, had stayed the demolition drive in Nuh, taking suo moto cognisance of the matter. It had ordered the Haryana government to halt demolitions until further orders. In a matter of five days, authorities said more than 750 “illegally constructed” properties were demolished, amidst allegations of authorities targeting Muslims.
According to The Hindu, Haryana’s additional advocate-general Deepak Sabharwal told the court on Friday that the demolition in Nuh and Gurugram was carried out by following all due procedures established under the law.
The matter so far has been heard by a division bench of Justices Arun Palli and Jagmohan Bansal. It will now be placed before the Chief Justice of the high court, who will hear the matter on August 18.
Meanwhile, Nuh district superintendent of police (SP), Narendra Bijarniya, told the Hindu that there was no “long-term” planning behind the violence.
However, he blamed the violence on a combination of things, including “simmering discontent in the Mewat region over inaction in the Junaid and Nasir murder case in February this year, political rhetoric, and a few aggressive elements sneaking into the procession”. He also said provocative social media posts from both sides also resulted in violence.
He also went on to add that around 50 young men from villages in Rajasthan bordering Haryana came to stay at a hotel in Badkali and stones were piled up as part of the conspiracy to attack the procession. “The investigation so far suggests that one to two days of planning had gone into it,” he said.
So far, 393 people have been arrested and 160 first information reports (FIRs) have been registered in connection with Nuh violence.