Government News

Demolitions as Extra-Judicial Punishment Have Left India in a Perpetual State of Violence

By - 16 Feb 2024 09:37 PM

Under international human rights law, states must ensure that evictions only occur in exceptional circumstances, require full justification and the provision of adequate legal safeguards. None of that here in New India, of course. The demolitions in Uttarakhand last week, after which five people were killed in violence, follows a pattern that we see in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. The pattern is of course that the government goes after citizens, especially Muslims. The demolitions are carried out as a form of extra-judicial punishment by the municipal authorities and the police, whether after episodes of communal violence or protests against discrimination.

The pattern has been documented in reports like “Routes of Wrath: Weaponising religious processions” by the Citizens and Lawyers Initiative. In his foreword, former Supreme Court Justice Rohinton F. Nariman says the report corroborates the findings (of decline in Indian democratic values), adding: “It finds that in nine states, during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in April 2022, there were widespread acts of hooliganism and violence.” After this, the JCBs came out.

A report by Amnesty International, of which I am India chair, has found similar patterns of people made homeless and deprived of livelihoods. These individuals were subjected to forced evictions, intimidation and unlawful force by the police and collective and arbitrary punishment, which undermined their rights to non-discrimination, adequate housing, and a fair trial. Muslim-concentrated localities were either chosen or Muslim-owned properties selectively targeted in diverse areas for demolitions.