NB: Our honourable senior judges may kindly let us know if they have totally abandoned their constitutional duty to exercise oversight on the actions of the executive. In face of their silence, may we assume that this kind of hooliganism by the Yogi government will be allowed to continue with impunity? Should we also assume that they do not consider the illegal destruction of citizens homes to be a serious matter worthy of judicial cognisance? Are we to assume that the Indian Constitution has been suspended for the duration of this RSS/BJP government? What should we do? Pray? DS
The bulldozer brought in by the Uttar Pradesh government in Prayagraj on Sunday to raze the house of Mohammad Javed is part of a familiar playbook: the issue is under substantive challenge in three courts, the Supreme Court, Allahabad High Court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court. And in all three, the cases are in a limbo. The bulldozing of houses, under the pretext of alleged violations of the state’s municipal and urban planning laws, has been challenged before the courts as a violation of fundamental rights and due process. In many cases, notices are issued but the demolition is timed with a protest and a particular section is targeted giving the subject no time to appeal.
“This is totally illegal. Even if you assume for a moment that the construction was illegal, which by the way is how crores of Indians live, it is impermissible that you demolish a house on a Sunday when the residents are in custody. It is not a technical issue but a question of rule of law,” former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Govind Mathur told The Indian Express Sunday.
Owaisi’s questions for Yogi govt
Asaduddin Owaisi, chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), on Sunday reminded the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government about people who have been accused of serious crimes, but had their houses safe, while a vocal Muslim’s home is being brought down.
The Hyderabad MP’s statement came in the wake of the UP administration launching a “bulldozer drive” following violent protests in parts of the state against remarks on Prophet Mohammad by now-sacked BJP leaders.
Owaisi also expressed his solidarity with former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Afreen Fatima whose house was demolished in Prayagraj.”What happened to Modi’s & Yogi’s sympathy for Muslim women?” he wrote in a Twitter post. Her father, Javed Mohammad, has been named as a key conspirator of Friday’s violence.
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Referring to Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, who has been accused of running his car over four farmers and a journalist in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri few months ago, Owaisi said, “Teni’s son is accused of killing 5 people. SC has cancelled his bail. But his house is safe.”
He also spoke about how controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand, accused of making ‘inflammatory’ speeches on multiple occasions, and his accomplices are roaming freely, and policemen ‘carrying out custodial torture” are been awarded by the government. However, being a vocal Muslim has become “a crime” under the current regime, he added.
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