UP: FIR filed against ex-district magistrate, 25 others for illegal demolition of journalist’s home
On November 6, the Supreme Court held that the home had been illegally demolished and directed the state government to file a case in the matter.
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The Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a first information report against 26 persons, including a former district magistrate and several police officers, for illegally demolishing a journalist’s home, The Wire reported on Thursday.
This came less than two months after the Supreme Court on November 6 ordered the state government to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the journalist, Manoj Tibrewal, whose home it said had been unlawfully demolished.
The journalist wrote to the court about the allegedly illegal demolition of his home in Mohalla Hamid Nagar in Maharajganj district in October 2019, The Wire reported. Subsequently, the court registered the complaint as a suo motu writ petition.
Akash told the court that the property was demolished in September 2019 for a road-widening project in the district without the authorities giving him notice.
He alleged that his home was demolished as reprisal for “a newspaper report which contained allegations of wrongdoing in relation to the construction of the road in question”. In its judgement, the court said it did not need to engage with this allegation, except to the extent that it provided the background to his grievances.
The court also said that bulldozer “justice” was unacceptable under the rule of law, and that the government must follow due processes before removing allegedly illegal encroachments.
In addition to ordering compensation, the...
