E-Paper
Nuh demolitions: Punjab and Haryana HC defers hearing
It was on August 7 a division bench of thePunjab and Haryana HC comprising justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan had taken suo motu cognisance of the demolitions and observed that the law-and-order situation was being “used as a ruse” to pull buildings without due process.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday deferred hearing in a suo motu plea initiated into demolition exercise carried out by local authorities in Nuh post July 31 violence.
The matter was listed for hearing before the bench of chief justice RS Jha and justice Vikas Bahl and was taken up for hearing at around 3 pm. However, it had to be adjourned as chief justice was to attend an event. The next date of hearing has not been put out as of now.
It was on August 7 a division bench comprising justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan had taken suo motu cognisance of the demolitions and observed that the law-and-order situation was being “used as a ruse” to pull buildings without due process.
The demolition exercise began in Nuh on August 3, three days after communal violence erupted in the district on July 31 during a Hindu religious procession, injuring several and killing at least five. The violence eventually spiraled and spread to neighbouring districts, including Gurugram, where mobs set afire a mosque and pillaged several shops and restaurants. The demolitions continued till the morning of August 7, when the high court intervened and questioned the government over the manner it was being carried out.
In the report submitted in high court the government has denied apprehensions of ethnic cleansing and said that exercise was carried out as per law. “No demolition was carried out without following the procedure of law. It is also pertinent to mention that the government while removing encroachments/ unauthorised constructions never adopted pick-and-choose policy and that too on the basis of caste, creed or religion. The state government, while collecting such information on encroachments does not collect any information with regard to caste, creed and religion and all the encroachers are dealt with in the same manner,” affidavits of both the DCs of Gurugram and Nuh stated.
In Nuh, 443 structures were demolished of 354 persons, including 71 Hindus and 283 Muslims. The government had claimed that number of affected Muslims was high as almost 80% of population in Nuh comprise of Muslims.
