The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that persons accused of a crime cannot be punished through the destruction of property, reported Live Law.

The bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan reserved its order on a batch of pleas seeking the court’s intervention against “bulldozer action” by state governments.

“We will clarify demolition can’t be carried out merely because someone is an accused or convict,” the court remarked, adding that it would frame “pan-India guidelines” to ensure that local authorities do not abuse laws providing for the demolition of unauthorised constructions.

“We are a secular country and our directions will be for all irrespective of religion or community,” the court said.

There are no provisions in Indian law that allow for the demolition of property as a punitive measure. Nevertheless, the practice has become commonplace mainly in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Authorities in four BJP-ruled states and one Aam Aadmi Party-governed state punitively bulldozed 128 structures, mostly belonging to Muslims, between April 2022 and June 2022, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report in February.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta whether demolitions were allowed on the grounds of a person being an alleged criminal, to which Mehta replied “absolutely not”.

The court suggested that an online portal be set up to notify persons who are likely to be affected by planned demolitions. It also said that judicial oversight was required in the implementation of demolition orders.

Vishwanathan added that once a demolition order is passed, it may not be executed for some time in the interest of the evictees.

The bench, however, declined to hear an intervention application filed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal after Mehta objected to it.

“We don’t want this to internationalise,” the solicitor general said. “Our constitutional courts are powerful enough and our government is assisting non-adversarially and we don’t need international agencies to come in.”

Arbitrary and punitive demolitions of homes and commercial establishments is an “aggravated form of human rights violation”, Rajagopal had told the Supreme Court on Friday.

“Data reveal that from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2023, around 7.4 lakh people lost their homes as a result of State-driven demolitions,” his petition claimed. “The scale and pace of these evictions reached unprecedented levels in 2023, with 5,15,752 people evicted and 1,07,449 homes demolished across the country.”

Rajagopal said that 31% of the people evicted during this period belong to marginalised groups, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, nomadic communities, migrant workers and religious minorities.

On September 17, the Supreme Court passed an interim order staying demolitions without its permission till Tuesday. The directive will continue to apply to all state governments until the case is decided, the court said.

Contempt petition against demolitions in Gujarat

A contempt petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the authorities in Gujarat for allegedly violating the court’s September 17 order, reported Live Law.

The authorities in Gir Somnath district on Saturday demolished nine mosques and shrines, and 45 homes in the Prabhas Patan area near the Somnath temple for alleged land encroachment.

After the demolitions, the Minority Coordination Committee of Gujarat, which advocates the rights of religious minorities, wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel seeking justice for the Muslim community.

This is the second plea alleging contempt of the Supreme Court’s order by a state government. Forty-seven Assam residents have also moved the court against a demolition drive in the state’s Kamrup Metropolitan district.

Also read: Bulldozer injustice: Domicide doesn’t just destroy homes – it turns homelands hostile