The government is acting both as the accuser and the judge, said lawyers and members of the Muslim community in their reaction to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s demolition of houses belonging to men accused in the riots that broke out in the city on March 17.
Senior lawyer Yusuf Muchhala said the government was punishing families by demolishing the homes of the accused. “Riots have taken place and law has to take its course. The guilty should be brought to book, but do not give collective punishment to the family. When you demolish a house you destroy a family; some children and women will have nowhere to go,” said Muchhala.
On Monday, the municipal corporation demolished the house of Fahim Khan, one of the main accused in the riots in connection with the demand by Hindu groups to destroy the grave of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Khuldabad near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The municipal corporation said that the structure was illegal as it violated the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966. Municipal officials said the house was demolished after following the process under law, including a survey last week and a day’s notice to the accused. Khan’s family is accused of encroaching on government land. The municipal corporation also demolished the house of another violence accused, Yusuf Sheikh, after declaring it illegal.
The despatch of bulldozers to the homes and other properties belonging to accused rioters began in Uttar Pradesh and the action has been replicated in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. All three are BJP-ruled states. The Nagpur action is the first instance where Maharashtra has taken similar punitive action against a property linked to a riot suspect. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said he will turn bulldozers on properties of the riot accused if they do not pay the damages.
The government’s action is a blatant misuse of law, said lawyer Zubair Azmi. “As a lawyer from Mumbai, I know that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has to follow certain procedures before any punitive action. Cities are full of illegal buildings. This is cherry-picking,” said Azmi. “I am not holding a brief for anyone but these tactics have been borrowed from Israel’s Mossad. “
Azmi added that he hoped the Supreme Court would take a suo motu cognisance of the Supreme Court’s guidelines to check arbitrary punitive action against persons accused of a crime.
“The law of the land or the Supreme Court’s directives means nothing to these people,” said Javed Anand, founder member of Citizens for Justice and Peace. “It looks like bulldozer justice violating Supreme Court’s directives.”
Muchhala said that the action was against the principle of criminal jurisprudence that one is innocent till proven guilty. How can you prejudge and remove the structure? We are turning into a lawless society,” Muchhala added.
