SIT to probe into Jai Bhim Nagar demolitions: HC
The SIT will be supervised by the joint commissioner of police (crime) Lakhmi Gautam and it must submit a report to the court within three weeks, the court said
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday directed the additional commissioner of police (crime) Sashi Kumar Meena to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the violence that accompanied the demolition of nearly 650 tenements in Powai’s Jai Bhim Nagar on June 6. The court also ordered the registration of an FIR against officials involved in the incident.
The SIT will be supervised by the joint commissioner of police (crime) Lakhmi Gautam and it must submit a report to the court within three weeks, the court said.
The directions were issued when the bench comprising justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan was hearing a plea for registering an FIR under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. Most of the inhabitants of Jai Bhim Nagar, whose houses were demolished despite a 2021 government resolution prohibiting demolitions during the monsoon months spanning June to September, were Scheduled Castes.
The petitioners, represented by advocate Rakesh Singh, submitted that they were allowed to construct around 800 hutments in Jai Bhim Nagar, on a plot owned by Hiranandani Developers, nearly 30 years ago; they were also provided with necessary facilities like electricity, water supply and gas connection. But some years later, the developer sought to acquire the land and offered the residents permanent alternate accommodation in Mahatma Phule Nagar. However, the residents demanded relocation in the same area in Powai while the developer’s attempt to evict them through the courts was dismissed.
The petitioners alleged that the developer then adopted ingenious methods such as attempting to conspire with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to evict them. In 2017, the builder secured an eviction notice from BMC under section 152 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, although residents’ legal documents confirmed Jai Bhjim Nagar was their long-term residence. The situation escalated further when a complaint was filed with the State Human Rights Commission. Although the BMC initially claimed before the commission that the encroachment was on private land, where it did not have any authority, it later said it would remove the encroachment and requested for police protection.
Subsequently on June 3, the petition stated, the BMC posted notices about the impending demolition of tenements on a public toilet and water tank in Jai Bhim Nagar. Several residents were also summoned to the Powai police station, where they were allegedly threatened with forceful eviction.
The petitioners further claimed that on June 6, when they were undertaking a peaceful protest and a large police contingent was trying to reason out with them, goons hired by the developer mingled with protestors and threw stones at the police, giving the latter an excuse to unleash a lathi charge. The BMC subsequently demolished around 650 tenements using earthmovers and bulldozers without giving the slum dwellers an opportunity to fetch their belongings, the petition claimed.
Singh, the petitioners’ counsel welcomed the order, saying, “The hutment dwellers have suffered a lot. We hope for justice soon.”