IN PHOTOS: Displaced Tughlaqabad residents stage protest at Jantar Mantar

Two weeks after the anti-encroachment drive around Tughlaqabad fort in which members of the Bengali colony were evicted, residents demanding rehabilitation are staging a protest in Jantar Mantar.

The Delhi High Court had previously directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to remove encroachments in and around Tughlaqabad Fort. According to a report by The Indian Express, at least 50–60 houses were razed on Day 1. 'Residents and tenants, who were removed from their homes were seen picking up the remains of their belongings at noon,' the report said.

In the wake of this eviction, The Times of India reported that two women went on hunger strike while sitting on the rubble of the demolished site. 'On Wednesday, under a small tent, the duo were surrounded by more than 100 women and children who claimed that they were supporting the two in protest,' the report said.

Vasant Swarnkar, director (archaeology) and spokesperson of the ASI, said, “Land in Tughlaqabad was encroached. With the help of district administration, police and [the Municipal Corporation of Delhi], encroachments were cleared with prior notice and with the direction of the court, in around 96 bighas. For the safety of the land, to avoid further encroachment, a wall will be provided around the vacated land. We had served 1,248 notices within the identified area.”

The Tughlaqabad village lies next to the 14th-century fort of the same name built by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. Reports The Quint, back in 2001, a PIL was filed in the Delhi High Court arguing that the ASI has "failed to protect, maintain and preserve the historic Tughlakabad Fort" and that "various illegal occupants have since entered the fort premises and constructed their houses".