Mohammad Saud\u2019s shop was demolished by authorities in Nuh district<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0They destroyed everything within seconds,\u00a0\u00bb said a tearful Mohammad Saud, standing before a towering mound of debris.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
He and his younger brother Nawab Sheikh were looking at the broken remains of shops they ran in a neighbourhood in Nuh district in the northern Indian state of Haryana. As he spoke to the BBC on Saturday, a yellow bulldozer rumbled noisily behind him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0We owned 15 shops which were built on our family\u2019s land. We had all the documents but they [the police] insisted the buildings were illegal,\u00a0\u00bb Mr Saud said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The brothers\u2019 buildings were among hundreds of shops and houses demolished by district authorities in the aftermath of communal violence which broke out last week in Nuh, a Muslim-majority district that is among the poorest in India\u2019s national capital region (which includes Delhi and its suburbs).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Police have said the clashes between Hindus and Muslims began after a march led by a hardline Hindu organisation was pelted with stones when it passed through Nuh. As news spread, violence also broke out in Gurugram, just outside Delhi. Six people were killed in Nuh and Gurugram as rioters set fire to shops, vehicles and a mosque.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Days later, in what has become a pattern in many states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), bulldozers descended on shell-shocked residents of Nuh and tore down hundreds of structures, alleging they were built illegally. The action only stopped after four days, on Monday, when the state\u2019s high court on its own accord issued a notice to the government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0Apparently, without any demolition orders and notices, the law and order problem is being used as a ruse to bring down buildings without following the procedure established by law,\u00a0\u00bb the court said. It also asked if the state was conducting \u00ab\u00a0an exercise of ethnic cleansing\u00a0\u00bb by targeting buildings mostly owned by Muslims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/amp-img><\/p>\nImage source, <\/span>Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nImage caption, <\/span><\/p>\nHundreds of structures were demolished in Nuh<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Civil society groups and opposition parties say there has been a surge in violence and hate speech against Muslims since 2014, when the Hindu nationalist BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came to power. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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In BJP-governed states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, it is now common for bulldozers to swiftly demolish the houses of people who have been accused of crimes. The reason cited is illegal construction but legal experts question this. The chief ministers of these states have also often linked the demolitions with their government\u2019s tough stance on crime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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While the victims include the families of Hindus, opposition leaders and several activists say that the action is mostly targeted at Muslims, especially after religious violence or protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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In Nuh, officials gave contradictory answers when asked about the reason for the demolitions. District Magistrate Dhirendra Khadgata told BBC Hindi that only illegal buildings were being razed. But Vinesh Singh, planning officer for the district, said that authorities were demolishing houses from which \u00ab\u00a0stones had been pelted\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Image caption, <\/span><\/p>\nMr Saud\u2019s brother, Nawab Sheikh, wept at the sight of the demolished shops<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Critics say these demolitions are particularly brutal as they leave innocent family members, including children, homeless. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0Arbitrarily demolishing someone\u2019s home or shop is a very crude and medieval form of collective punishment,\u00a0\u00bb says political scientist Asim Ali. \u00ab\u00a0Their presence in contemporary India indicates that the rule of law regime has broken down.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Legal experts agree that dispensing instant and collective punishment is inhuman and illegal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0How can the State club everybody and put them in one basket, regardless of the facts, without ascertaining the truth and go on a demolition spree? In situations like this, collective punishment is anathema to the rule of law and constitutional rights, regardless of religion,\u00a0\u00bb says Justice Madan Lokur, a former Supreme Court judge. He points out that according to reports, \u00ab\u00a0the owner is not given due notice or time to remove the belongings from the home and is also not given even a day\u2019s time to find alternate accommodation\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure is not allowed under any law, adds Shadan Farasat, a Supreme Court lawyer. \u00ab\u00a0If you want to charge someone for violence, you need to arrest them and put them on trial \u2013 you cannot simply destroy their house within a day.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/amp-img><\/p>\nImage source, <\/span>Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nImage caption, <\/span><\/p>\nMany in Nuh say they had the documents to prove their buildings were not illegal<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Justice Lokur says that authorities do have the power to demolish illegal buildings but only according to rules. The owner has to be served a notice and given the chance to pay fines or file an appeal. Even then, authorities have the option of demolishing only the parts built in violation of the law. If the structure is entirely illegal, authorities must provide a \u00ab\u00a0reasoned\u00a0\u00bb explanation to the owner before razing it. \u00ab\u00a0The entire demolition exercise is reportedly being conducted arbitrarily and in complete violation of constitutional rights,\u00a0\u00bb he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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In Nuh, police said that they served notices to the alleged encroachers, but several families told the BBC that they didn\u2019t get a warning. Others claimed they were not even in their houses at the time of the riots but were punished anyway. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Musaib, 20, could not stop crying as he watched authorities demolishing his week-old tuck shop, built with his father\u2019s savings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n