Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seemingly defended “bulldozer justice”, saying, “Jo jaise samjhega, usko ussi bhasha mein samjhana chahiye…[People must be taught in the language that they understand]”.
In an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, Yogi Adityanath said law exists for those who believe in it. “People who take law in their hands, we need to teach them a lesson under the limits of the law,” the UP CM said.
Yogi Adityanath’s statement came days after Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that demolishing the properties of people suspected of a crime is equivalent to running a bulldozer over the Constitution of India.
“According to me, using a bulldozer to demolish a property is like running a bulldozer over the Constitution. It is a negation of the very concept of rule of law and if not checked, would destroy the very edifice of our justice delivery system,” Justice Bhuyan was quoted as saying by legal news website Bar and Bench.
In November last year, the Supreme Court called the ‘bulldozer justice’ simply unacceptable under rule of law. The Supreme Court, had then laid down pan-India guidelines on demolition of properties.”
Nagpur violence and ‘bulldozer justice’
Recently, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis threatened that a bulldozer would roll if necessary when asked if perpetrators of Nagpur violence would face the “Uttar Pradesh style” action.
“The Maharashtra government has its own style of working….bulldozer will roll when necessary,” Fadnavis said on March 22.
Violence erupted in central Nagpur on March 17. Stones were hurled at police amid rumours that the sacred text of a community was burnt during an agitation by a right-wing body demanding the removal of the 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
The brother of Yusuf Sheikh, an accused in the March 17 communal violence in Nagpur, claimed the civic body started demolition of a portion of their house despite the family having all sanctions and possessing documents for the building.
Ayaz Sheikh claimed the house of his brother was built legally and alleged that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) action on Monday to demolish its balcony, on the ground that it was “unauthorised”, was an act of “revenge”.
The demolition was stayed after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court intervened following pleas by Yusuf Sheikh and Fahim Khan, an alleged mastermind behind the communal violence.