Lawyers and Muslim leaders in India have urged the country's judiciary to put an end to the exercises carried out by the authorities to demolish Muslim houses or properties.
Last month after an angry mob torched a police station in the northeastern state of Assam, the authorities bulldozed the houses of several people involved in the arson. It was not the lone case. Over the last few months, there has been a steep increase in the number of demolitions mainly in Muslim-majority areas, and mostly in the states governed by the ruling Bharatiya General Party (BJP).
In April, bulldozers demolished properties in a predominantly Muslim locality in the capital city of Delhi, days after it witnessed communal clashes.
A similar exercise was seen in the same month after several Muslim homes and shops were allegedly torn down in the Central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh on April 10 following communal clashes.
The trend of flattening properties was started by the Hindu monk-turned-Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his Uttar Pradesh province. His government has been routinely demolishing houses of alleged criminals – earning him the moniker of "bulldozer baba," or bulldozer monk.
Illegal, discriminatory
M.R. Shamshad, advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that there are two reasons why the exercises may not be treated as a general matter of law enforcement.
"It is selective in Muslim-dominated areas where non-Muslim houses are very few to show that the action is against everyone. Secondly, bulldozers are used to demolish houses because Muslim occupants are protesters and alleged criminals. This action is illegal and discriminatory because such action is not taken against all criminals," he said.
Shamshad said that courts must ensure that if action is to be taken, it must start in an indiscriminate manner.
"It must start from somewhere where powerful people reside ... it must ensure that all kinds of encroachments are removed by dividing the territories into zones," he said.
Zafar Ul Islam Khan, a senior Muslim leader and former chief of the Delhi Minorities Commission, told AA that the demolitions are totally "illegal."
"Since the political establishment itself has adopted this illegal strategy to punish and silence victims, the only route left is to go to courts and to make the world powers and human rights organizations concerned about human, minority and religious rights aware of these gross human rights violations," he said.
Athar Hussain, secretary of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation, a body formed to construct an alternate mosque as part of the settlement of the Babri Mosque case in North India, said that the judiciary should restore the rule of law in the country.
"When such instances of injustice are brought to their notice and seek reply from provincial governments regarding why there should not be a uniform policy where demolitions are carried out on the pretext of encroachment and building plans approval procedure ... it is done against those people who protest and oppose governments," he said.
He said provincial governments demolishing properties of those who are accused of crimes like instigating violence, marrying into different religions, and those seeking justice and taking action against them without the due process of law is "undemocratic."
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, India's largest socio-religious Muslim organization, in a statement earlier, had approached the country's top court against razing Muslim properties in different states.
Inform in advance, rehabilitation
Colin Gonsalves, a senior Supreme Court lawyer and founder of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), India’s leading public interest law group, told AA that the demolition of minority houses is illegal because it is not directed by law.
"Suppose you go as per law, in every city 60% (of construction) will be having some legal problem. Are you going to remove 60% of the city? The legal proposition is this unless certain areas are required for an urgent public project, there shouldn't be any demolition. If it has to be for urgent public projects, then you have to give proper notice in advance and also rehabilitation," he said.
Last month, the opposition government in Delhi said 6.3 million residents would be bulldozed if the BJP continued its demolition drives.
A number of opposition parties have criticized the BJP for the demolition of politics. The BJP has denied such allegations.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India's main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has described the BJP's demolition policy as the demolition of "India's constitutional values."
The ruling party, however, has denied the allegations.
"The opposition parties always look through the lenses of religion and do divisive politics. They try to use vote bank and appeasement politics, which is unfair," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told local news agency ANI recently.
"The opposition parties have been doing this for so many years now. However, what BJP does is inclusive politics and this is the main mantra of PM Modi Ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi)."