Bypassing of due process a dangerous trend

The no-holds-barred demolition of the house of Mohammad Javed, the alleged mastermind of Friday’s mob violence in Prayagraj, seems to be an instance of vindictive rather than administrative action. The bulldozer, which is fast becoming the most potent instrument of official high-handedness in one state after another, was brought into play barely a day after a notice was served on Javed to vacate his house, which had reportedly been built without getting its map approved by the local development authority. The brazenness of the exercise was summed up by the warning of Mrityunjay Kumar, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s media adviser, who tweeted a photo of a bulldozer demolishing a building and said, ‘Rioters, remember, every Friday is followed by a Saturday.’ This comment made it obvious that a particular community was being targeted, with even the fig leaf of ‘due process of law’ being conveniently dispensed with in most cases.

A former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Govind Mathur, has rightly slammed the illegality of the operation: ‘Even if you assume for a moment that the construction was illegal, which by the way is how crores of Indians live, it is impermissible that you demolish a house on a Sunday when the residents are in custody.’ The modus operandi of the authorities is becoming rather predictable — give the alleged offender little or no time to take legal recourse or reply to the notice, if at all it is issued.

There is a procedure laid down for dealing with encroachments and illegal constructions. The overzealousness of officials who act with feverish haste to raze such structures is in stark contrast to their general tendency to overlook the violations over years or even decades. Persons booked for inciting mobs or taking part in violent protests must face action as per law, but summarily ‘punishing’ them reeks of gross misuse of official machinery. The bulldozing of rights of citizens is a dangerous trend for our increasingly vulnerable democracy. The onus is on the judiciary to stop these sledgehammer demolitions from becoming par for the course.

(The Tribune)