The model of vigilante justice, i.e, bulldozer politics, by the State itself is a phenomenon that has gained fresh legitimacy during the past decade under Modi.

“Under what law can they demolish a house for an offence that hasn’t been proved?”

• Former SC Justice Madan Lokur.

..police cannot, “under the guise of investigation”, bulldoze anyone’s house without permission, and if such practices continue then “nobody is safe in this country” ..: “Show me from any criminal jurisprudence that for investigating the crime, the police, without any order, can uproot a person, apply a bulldozer. .”

There are interventions of courts which are considered to be ‘breaking new grounds’.

The Gauhati High Court’s judgement in the ‘illegal demolitions’ at Salonabari (May 2022) was one such occasion.

The two-judge bench of the high court led by Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia had come down heavily on the demolitions executed without following any procedure and declared such actions ‘illegal’ and compared the police actions akin to a ‘gang war’ and ordered compensation to the victims as well as actions against guilty officials.

Two years later, this issue was again before high courts recently, as the affected families had approached it for the government’s dilly dallying on compensation and actions against officials.

Much water has flown down the Brahmaputra and its tributary rivers during this period. ( Read the full article here : https://www.newsclick.in/when-state-breaks-its-own-laws)