‘Shocks our conscience’: SC on Uttar Pradesh bulldozing homes allegedly without process

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it was disturbed by the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh government had demolished the homes of a lawyer, a professor and three others in Prayagraj in 2021 within a day of issuing them a notice, Bar and Bench reported.

“It shocks the conscience of the court the manner in which within 24 hours of the notice it was done,” The Indian Express quoted a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan as saying.

The court said that it would direct the authorities to reconstruct the homes subject to the outcome of the case.

“We are telling you we will not tolerate such actions,” Bar and Bench quoted the bench as saying. “State should have minimum regard to the principles of natural justice.”

The judges were hearing a petition filed by advocate Zulfiqar Haider, professor Ali Ahmed, two widows and another person. The group had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s dismissal of their petition against the demolition of their houses in 2021.

The petitioners claimed that the state government had incorrectly linked their land to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, Live Law reported. Ahmed was killed in April 2023.

The petition alleged that the authorities issued the notices for the demolition late at night in March 2021 and razed their homes the following day without...

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