Courts in Madhya Pradesh allow police to deliver bulldozer justice

Shehzad Ali and his four brothers had built a house in Chhattarpur, Madhya Pradesh, where they all planned to live together. The palatial house had been built at a purported cost of around Rs 5 crore. Furniture was being placed and finishing touches added to the new house when it was demolished on Thursday, 22 August, using bulldozers.

At least three cars parked outside the house were also destroyed.

The Bhim Army's Chandra Shekhar Azad was not the only one to raise questions.

The biggest question that many are raising is whether the police enjoy the right to destroy property without a trial. Locals also wonder why, if this was part of an anti-encroachment drive as officials claimed, the vehicles parked there had to be destroyed as well.

Shehzad Ali was accused of having indulged in violence, stone pelting and obstructing the police from discharging its duty, besides injuring three policemen — one of whom belonged to a Scheduled Caste, making it a crime attracting the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The superintendent of police told the media that Shehzad Ali had led protests against the police and instigated a mob. Chhatarpur district collector Parth Jaiswal, however, claimed that an anti-encroachment drive was already going on against illegal constructions and a notice had been issued to Ali earlier. “Attacking government officials at a government property is a serious criminal offence which cannot be neglected,” he added.

While it remains unclear whether the house was demolished for allegedly attacking the police station or because of illegal construction, Shehzad Ali reportedly maintained that he had accompanied people who wanted to lodge a complaint against Ramgiri Maharaj, head of the Maharashtra-based Sadguru Gangagiri Maharaj Sansthan, for alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad and Islam during an event in Maharashtra’s Nashik last week.

A clip from the Nashik event went viral on the internet this week.

People turned violent when the police refused to lodge an FIR on the ground that the said comment had been made outside Madhya Pradesh and barred them from entering the police station.

Chattarpur police raided over 100 locations on Thursday, detained over 50 suspects and arrested around 20 of them. The arrested were allegedly forced the chant, “Apradh karna paap hai / Police humara baap hai [committing crime is a sin / We look up to the police as father figures]" as they were paraded through the streets and taken to the police station.

Unconfirmed reports on Friday, 23 August, claim they had also been beaten up in the police station and some of them had sustained serious injuries.

Cases of ‘bulldozer justice’ meted out by the police have been reported in the last few years from various parts of the state, notably Khargone, Sehore and Indore. The administration’s plea has always been the same, that action was taken against ‘rioters and encroachers’.

However, petitions challenging the police version have been pending in the courts with no hearing. The victims, almost exclusively Muslims and poor, have been left in the lurch.

Nor has any inquiry taken place to ascertain whether houses and shops belonging to other communities too have been subjected to bulldozer justice and whether Hindus too have encroached on public land or were guilty of illegal construction.

Perhaps it is time for the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of bulldozer justice and at least call for an inquiry report.