NEW DELHI: A day after communal tensions erupted in Rajasthan’s Udaipur city, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Saturday demolished the house of the minor Muslim boy who had allegedly stabbed his classmate, declaring that it had been constructed illegally on the Forest Department’s land, The Hindu reported.

The department is said to have sent an evacuation notice to the family in the morning, and the house was razed by the afternoon. Razing the homes of targeted communities and individuals has become a feature in BJP-ruled states.

The city was limping back to normalcy after large-scale violence on Friday, when groups of people owing allegiance to Hindu right-wing outfits set fire to cars, ransacked shops and a shopping mall, pelted stones, and raised provocative slogans outside some mosques and dargahs while trying to storm into them.

On Saturday, markets opened and no untoward incident was reported, The Hindu said.

Muslim boy’s home demolished; rights group describes BJP govt’s ‘bulldozer justice’ as illegal, says top court has already criticised the practice

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) took strong exception to the “bulldozer justice” meted out to the Muslim boy’s family, while describing the BJP government’s action of razing the house as illegal, communal and discriminatory. The “pick and choose” approach of the State authorities was in blatant violation of fundamental rights and the principles of natural justice, the PUCL said.

“There are more than 200 houses constructed in the locality, but only the family of the juvenile in conflict with law was targeted by the authorities to satisfy the power lust of certain miscreants who benefit from such communal tensions,” PUCL president Kavita Srivastava said.

Friends and relatives were denying shelter to the dispossessed family members for fear of action by the police. The PUCL sought the urgent intervention of the Rajasthan High Court’s Chief Justice in the matter through suo motu cognisance, saying the isolated offence was being given a communal colour only because the boy concerned was from the Muslim community and the victim was a Hindu. “No law permits the authorities to act in such a cruel manner. Even the Supreme Court sternly criticised this practice of ‘bulldozer justice’ when such incidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh,” Ms Srivastava said.

The PUCL sought a transitional shelter for the dispossessed family, payment of compensation for the demolition, and strict legal action against the officers who ordered the razing of their house. The PUCL stated that the investigation in the criminal case should be monitored by the High Court as the Udaipur Police and administration had shown their “extreme bias” against the accused even before the investigation.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) condemned the attempts to turn a fight between two school children into a communal incident, while accusing the BJP of conspiring to vitiate the atmosphere and target the minority community. CPI(M) State Secretary and Sikar MP Amra Ram said the act of demolition of the Muslim boy’s house had revealed the BJP’s “cheap mentality” to get political mileage by raising communal passions. All government and private schools in Udaipur remained closed and suspension of mobile Internet services was extended by 24 hours as the administration found it difficult to control the exchange of social media messages with false information and provocative content.

Members of the Udaipur Bar Association formed a “human chain” outside the district courts complex to protest against the incident.

The condition of the 15-year-old student of Class 10, who was injured during the fight between the two classmates, was stable. Udaipur Collector Arvind Poswal said a team of three specialist doctors from Jaipur had arrived at Maharana Bhupal Government Hospital, where the boy has been admitted, for monitoring his treatment in the intensive care unit.

The Muslim student who allegedly stabbed his classmate with a knife in his thigh has since been detained under the Juvenile Justice Act and his father arrested. The specific charges against the boy’s father remain unclear.

The boy’s house was vacated and its electricity connection was cut after the notice was served on the family. Though the notice gave three days to the family to vacate the house, the demolition began by noon, with two bulldozers brought in a joint operation of the Forest Department and the Udaipur Municipal Corporation.

A heavy police force was deployed in the Muslim-dominated residential locality as a large number of people gathered at the spot and had an altercation with the officials during the demolition. Municipal officials said the family had been staying in the house as tenants for several years. The house had three rooms, a kitchen, and a shop in the basement.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024