THE POLITICS OF DEMOLITIONS

IN STATES LIKE UTTAR PRADESH, MADHYA PRADESH AND DELHI, PUNITIVE ACTION BY WAY OF THE BULLDOZING OF HOUSES IS BEING TAKEN AGAINST 'CRIMINALS' AND 'MASTERMINDS' OF VIOLENT PROTESTS. COUCHED IN BUILDING LAWS AND BACKED BY STATE POLICE, HOW LEGAL ARE SUCH DEMOLITIONS?

- Kaushik Deka

ON JUNE 11, THE KANPUR Development Authority (KDA) in Uttar Pradesh demolished a commercial building owned by one Mohammad Ishtiaq in the city's Swaroop Nagar area. The same day, 135 km away in Saharanpur, the district administration demolished the "illegal residential constructions" of two individuals, Muzammil and Abdul Wakir. The next day, the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) demolished another house in the Kareli area. It was officially owned by the wife of Javed Mohammad, the state general secretary of a political party called the Welfare Party of India (WPI).

All these constructions, brought down by bulldozers within a span of 24 hours, allegedly violated building norms stipulated by the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973. But their owners had another thing in common. They have all been accused of either being masterminds or related to the alleged main conspirators of the violence that erupted in parts of UP on June 3 and June 10 after Friday prayers, in protest against derogatory remarks on Prophet Muhammed by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma during a television debate last month.

The protests in UP also occurred in Hathras, Moradabad, Ferozabad and Ambedkar Nagar, but turned violent in Kanpur, Saharanpur and Prayagraj, where the mob set on fire a few motorcycles and carts, and attempted to set ablaze a police vehicle, injuring 13 policemen. According to state police, Muzammil and Abdul Wakir are involved in the Saharanpur violence while Javed Mohammad has been arrested for orchestrating the riot in Prayagraj. Javed's daughter Afreen Fatima has been a prominent face of the agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. During the demolition, the police allegedly found countrymade pistols, cartridges and "objectionable"documents. Ishtiaq is a relative of Hayat Jafar Hashmi, prime accused in the Kanpur violence.