The Patna High Court remarked recently while slamming Bihar Police for demolishing a woman’s house allegedly at the instance of a land mafia.
“Kya yahan bhi Bulldozer chalne laga? Whom do you represent, the state or some private person? Tamasha bana diya ki kisi ka bhi ghar bulldozer se tod denge (Has the bulldozer started running here too? Who do you represent, the State or some private person? Made a spectacle of it that you will demolish anyone’s house with a bulldozer),” the Patna High Court remarked recently while slamming Bihar Police for demolishing a woman’s house allegedly at the instance of a land mafia.
Justice Sandeep Kumar also said he would ensure that the petitioner was paid Rs 5 lakh from the pocket of each officer involved if he found the house had been wrongfully demolished.
“5-5 lakh rupye dilwaynge hum, ghar tudwane ka...personal pocket se. Ab police aur CO milkar ghar tudwa raha hai ghoos lekar... this has to be stopped,” Justice Kumar said, asking senior police officers to appear personally at the next hearing on Thursday.
The case was heard on November 24, but the video proceedings was widely shared on social media on Saturday, The Indian Express reported.
Studying a police report in the case, the court observed that it appeared the house was illegally demolished by the state police without following the due process of law and Justice Kumar said that officials appeared to be in "hand in glove" with some land mafia, legal news website Live Law reported.
The petitioner’s counsel informed the Court that a false case had been registered against the petitioner and her family members so as to pressurise them to vacate the land at the instance of land mafias. On this, the bench gave an assurance to the petitioner that “he was there to protect the petitioner and not to trouble the petitioner”.
Using bulldozers to target suspects of crimes was first started by BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh where authorities have taken to demolishing their property, citing unrelated infractions.
The technique, which has drawn the Supreme Court's attention, has since been co-opted by several other states as well as the BJP-controlled civic body in Delhi which sent in bulldozers to a minority-dominated neighbourhood of the city following a communal clash earlier this year.
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