With the Supreme Court putting state governments on notice for “unlawful” exercise of power--what is in common parlance known as Bulldozer Justice--Outlook takes a look back at the many incidents of such demolitions in the recent past.
The bulldozer model of governance was pioneered by Yogi Adityanath in 2017, during his first term as Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister (CM). It has since become standard practice in many states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
September, 2017: In his very first announcement after being elected UP’s CM, Adityanath said his government wanted to fix the state’s law and order situation. "My government will bulldoze houses of anyone even thinking of perpetuating crime against women and weaker sections of the society,” he said.
By 2020, property worth crores of rupees had been demolished and land seized by the UP government, earning Adityanath the title Bulldozer Baba.
July 2020: The house of Vikas Dubey, a well-known crime boss in UP, was demolished. Earlier that same week, eight UP police officers had been killed while trying to arrest the 60-year-old gangster. Dubey was shot by UP Police in an encounter after allegedly escaping from a police van that was carrying him to jail.
August 2020: Properties known to be those of former Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Mukhtar Ansari’s were razed, including his sons’ homes and a hotel. Reportedly, the entire incident involved 20 bulldozers and 250 policemen.
September 2020: Properties belonging to politician Atique Ahmed were demolished by six bulldozers in the span of five hours. The government said the buildings had not received requisite clearance from local authorities. Around Rs.25 crore worth of property was also seized from Ahmed in Lucknow.
October 2020: The government demolished a residential property in Bhadohi linked to gangster Vijay Mishra, who had, at the time, 83 cases against him.
June 2022: The home of Afreen Fatima and her father Javed Mohammad was demolished in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Afreen, a Delhi student activist, had protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). At the same time, Javed had organised protests against controversial remarks made by a BJP spokesperson. Following violent clashes, Javed was accused of inciting the unrest. The property razed belonged to Javed's wife, Parveen Fatima.
June 2022: In Madhya Pradesh, the then-Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered the demolition of 16 houses and 29 shops in Khargone after communal clashes.
December 2023: Shortly after taking office as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on December 14 last year, Mohan Yadav ordered the demolition of 10 meat shops in Bhopal to check the “illegal purchase and sale of meat.”
January 2024: the Mira-Bhayandar municipality near Mumbai bulldozed “illegal” structures in Naya Nagar following communal violence ahead of the Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya. Clashes erupted when a procession with saffron flags was attacked by a local mob. On the day of the temple consecration, some Hindutva group members reportedly vandalised parked autorickshaws and threw stones in the area.
August 2024: Officials in Udaipur, Rajasthan, demolished the home of a boy accused of stabbing a classmate. The Udaipur district administration carried out the demolition following the incident, where the class 10 student allegedly attacked a fellow student at a government school, which heightened communal tensions in the Madhuban area.
In February 2024, Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, released a report on India’s widespread unlawful demolitions of Muslims’ homes, businesses and places of worship through the use of bulldozers and urged authorities to take immediate action.
“Amnesty International calls on the Government of India and state governments to immediately halt the de facto policy of demolishing people’s homes as a form of extra-judicial punishment and ensure nobody is made homeless as a result of forced evictions. They must also offer adequate compensation to all those affected by the demolitions and ensure those responsible for these violations are held to account,” the report said.
For a deeper understanding of the legal and social issues around bulldozer justice, read Outlook's reportage and commentary on the issue: Click Here.
