House demolished in Prayagraj didn’t belong to the accused

A day after the whole family of the JNU student and activist Afreen Fatima was detained/arrested following a protest over remarks against Prophet Mohammad in Prayagraj, her house was demolished by the authorities on Sunday without following the due process.

Her father, Javed Mohammad, a leader of the Welfare Party of India (WPI) and a prominent face in the anti-CAA protests, was named as a key conspirator alongside 10 others by the UP police.

Fatima along with her sister and mother was detained on Saturday night. She was not even allowed to speak to the lawyers. After a long pursuit and heated debate activist Seema Azad and a lady lawyer were allowed to meet her in the police station.

Pointing out towards the hastily served notice, Seema Azad posted on Facebook that the house does not belong to Javed but his wife.

“The back-dated notice was served in the name of Javed Mohammad, even though the house not only belongs to his wife, but in fact the land it stands on is her ancestral property, with Javed Mohammad having no legal stake in it. The notice also mentioned serving of a prior notice on 10 May, a hearing on 24 May and orders passed on 25 May, without mentioning the details, circular number or order number of any of these,” wrote Seema Azad.

“The family is totally unaware of any such proceedings. The fact that the notice was not even delivered in the name of the actual property holder makes its authenticity highly dubious, as even basic proceedings would have uncovered this fact.

“Further, the notice was dated 10 June but pasted only late at night on 11 June, a Saturday, even though police have continuously been present at the house since 10 June. It seems clear that the notice was hastily issued on a weekend night to ensure that the family has no opportunity for legal recourse, as proceedings before a court might uncover the many factual inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the notice, highlighting the fact that this is nothing more than a vindictive operation designed to punish a questioning voice,” she pointed out.

According to Muslim Personal Law, the husband has no legal right over the property belonging to his wife. Some lawyers in Prayagraj pointed out that property belonging to woman can neither be attached nor demolished by authorities even by way of legal action against the husband.

Before demolition drive, the Prayagraj police pasted a notice against the boundary wall of the house which read, “You are informed to vacate the house by 11 am so that demolition drive can be carried out”.

Heavy security was deployed in the area.

On Friday, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath also called for unspecified exemplary ‘action’ against rioters so that those with ‘anti-social thoughts’ never again think of disturbing the peace.