Hearing a plea against “bulldozer justice” Monday, the Supreme Court proposed to lay down guidelines on the issue. Can anybody’s house be demolished only because he is an accused, the Court said: “Even if he is a convict, still it (demolition) can’t be done without following the procedure as prescribed by law. We propose to lay down certain guidelines on a pan-India basis so that the concern with regard to the issues raised is taken care of.”
Since the Yogi Adityanath government started the practice of instant “justice” using bulldozers to bring down properties of accused to make an example of them and put pressure on those absconding, other BJP-ruled states and even Congress ones, have followed suit. The authorities claim they only raze the illegal structures in a property, for which due notice is provided.
Uttar Pradesh
“Bulldozer justice” was brought into vogue by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after he first assumed office in 2017 — earning him the moniker “bulldozer baba”. During his first term, Adityanath registered cases against around 15,000 people under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act and also demolished “illegally constructed” houses of several accused. It was the BJP government’s way of putting distance between its regime and the alleged “lawless” government of the Samajwadi Party in the state.
At an election rally in Mainpuri in February 2022, Adityanath proclaimed that “those getting aggressive would be silenced by bulldozers after the elections”.
The BJP returned to power in Uttar Pradesh and, true to Adityanath’s word, bulldozers were back in action within a week when houses of some rape accused were demolished to “put pressure on them to surrender”.
In June this year, six properties owned by people named in two separate FIRs in Moradabad and Bareilly districts were demolished. While the first case was in connection with a shootout in Bareilly on June 22, the second was related to a bid to kidnap a married woman from her maternal house in Moradabad on June 26.
Madhya Pradesh
Adityanath’s “bulldozer justice” soon saw an offshoot in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, where then CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan — facing a tough election — fell back on it to portray his tough stance against crime.
Bulldozers were first used by Chouhan in April 2022, in the aftermath of the communal clashes in Khargone. His government demolished 16 houses and 29 structures in the town following the clashes.
Soon Chauhan came to be referred to as “bulldozer mama” — “mama” being the term of endearment used for the long-serving Madhya Pradesh CM.
Now, Chouhan’s successor Mohan Yadav seems to be taking the “bulldozer culture” forward. In one of his first moves after taking the CM’s chair on December 14 last year, Yadav ordered the demolition of 10 meat shops in Bhopal as a part of his “intensive campaign” to check “illegal purchase and sale of meat”.
On the same day, the government razed the houses of three men who were accused of attacking a BJP worker.
More recently, on August 22, authorities in Chhattarpur demolished the house of local leader Shahzad Ali, a day after a group of Muslims were accused of pelting stones at a police station in the area while protesting against the alleged communal remarks of a Hindu religious leader. Incidentally, following the action, Yadav said he was not in favour of “bulldozer culture” and called for “more consideration on this part of our system”.
National Capital Region
The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana has also delivered “bulldozer justice”. Following the communal riots that erupted during a VHP yatra in Nuh in July last year which led to the death of six people and triggered an exodus, the state government demolished several homes and other structures, believed to be of the accused.
In Delhi, days after communal violence broke out on April 16, 2022, in Jahangirpuri during a Hanuman Jayanti rally, the then BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation demolished several structures, including the front gate and a wall of a mosque.
Rajasthan
In Rajasthan’s Udaipur, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP government recently demolished the rented house of a schoolboy accused of stabbing his classmate.
His predecessor Ashok Gehlot, who as CM had slammed the bulldozer actions in UP and Madhya Pradesh and emphasised that no action could be taken against an accused till proven guilty, also resorted to “bulldozer justice” ahead of the Assembly elections. In January last year, the Jaipur Development Authority demolished a coaching institute run by people who were accused of leaking the question paper of the teacher recruitment exam.
