Indian demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a rally in New Delhi on July 18, 2017, in protest over a spate of assaults against Muslims and low-caste Dalits by Hindu vigilantes in India. © 2017 Sajjad Hussain/Getty Images
by Asia Maqsood 12 February 2023
Indian ruler’s statements that “stone pelting will be turned into rubble” in the context of when police in Gujarat publicly flogged Muslim men accused of disrupting a Hindu festival in October, 2022 give less weight to Indian rulers claim that demolishing their homes in various provinces is an anti-encroachment policy. Indian atrocities against Muslims in the form of this demolishment (around 4300 Muslim houses demolished) was because the men were accused of disrupting a Hindu festival and the Hindu festival was disrupted by the Muslim men.
In response to communal violence in April, authorities in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Delhi summarily destroyed property owned primarily by Muslims. They attempted to use the fact that the buildings were unlawful to excuse the demolitions, but it was clear that the purpose was to punish Muslims all at once. The BJP home minister in the state of Madhya Pradesh threatened to do stone-pelting-related homes into rubble.
This demonstrates that there are other options available to Indian authorities for dealing with Muslims in encroachment instances besides demolishing. This time, India is also under the spotlight of Human Rights Watch 2022, a 712-page report in its 33rd edition. This is maybe the first time a major human rights organization has voiced alarm over the use of a demolition push by the government against minorities especially Muslims, by state governments that are led by the Bharatiya Janata Party driven by a Hindu majoritarian ideology.
Institutional prejudice, notably in the legal system and in constitutional bodies like the National Human Rights Commission, was a result of the government’s Hindu majoritarian ideology.
Adityanath, often known as “Bulldozer Baba,” the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, justified the use of such a demolition effort as a likely “symbol of peace” as recently as January 2023. There are multiple other ways than demolition such as mediation, or compensation could be opted by the authorities, when you are demolishing homes, how is peace possible when there is no negotiation or any Encroachment law was not followed such as per the law, an encroacher will have to pay a penalty of Rest 550 or/and face imprisonment for up to three months. These encroachment laws vary from different to different regions and cases as well.
In all such actions, the HRW notes, the state governments did not have any “legal authorization”. “The authorities in several BJP-ruled states demolished Muslim homes and properties without legal authorization or due process as summary punishment for protests or alleged crimes,” the HRW said.
Furthermore, 50,000 people cannot be evacuated suddenly… The Supreme Court halted a decision by the Uttarakhand High Court that had approved the eviction of the people who reside in about 4,000 homes following a case that lasted for years, saying that it was a human issue for which a suitable solution needed to be found, in 2023. The area includes the Banbhulpura neighborhood’s Gafoor Basti, Dholak Basti, and Indira Nagar, which is a 2-km-long strip of land close to the Haldwani railway station. The neighborhood also features four government schools, 11 private schools, a bank, two overhead water tanks, 10 mosques, and 4 temples in addition to stores that have been developed over many years. Nearly half of the families claim to have a land lease.
In a nutshell, the words or statements made by Indian authorities do not reflect the values of secularism since Dalits and Muslims other minorities are vulnerable. the anger directed at Muslims by the BJP and RSS-led India. How can India deny the basic rights and employment prospects of its 14% Muslim minority, who would ultimately boost the country’s economy? Without liberal democratic standards that protect the rights of all citizens, India’s democracy is only a sustained or ongoing electoral process?
Dalit injustice results in severe pain and suffering that spans generations. Stigma accompanies a person from birth until death and has an impact on every element of life, including access to justice, housing, employment, and political engagement. Women and girls are frequently the targets of sexual assault and human trafficking, and they are particularly susceptible to early and forced marriage, bonded labour, and negative cultural norms.
The International Dalit Solidarity Network estimates that there are 260 million Dalits in the world. The Dalit people reside in South Asia (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), as well as in groups that have moved there from other parts of the world.