Uttar Pradesh's 'Bulldozer Justice' Continues Despite Supreme Court Order: Allahabad High Court Concerned

LUCKNOW: In an observation regarding the state of executive actions in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court said that punitive demolitions of structures continued to take place in the State despite the Supreme Court's November 2024 order over 'Bulldozer Justice'. The HC further questioned the state government as to whether demolishing a structure immediately following the commission of an offence was a ‘colourable exercise of executive discretion.’ A Division Bench, comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddharth Nandan, observed while hearing a writ petition filed by one Fahimuddeen and others who claimed that their relative Aafan Khan was named in an FIR under various Sections of the BNS, POCSO Act, IT Act and the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act. The petitioners alleged that, though they were not named as co-accused in the FIR, they were being targeted by a mob allegedly in collusion with the district police. Before the court, they raised an apprehension that their properties situated in Hamirpur, including a residential house, a commercial lodge and a saw mill, were marked for destruction by mechanical means by the authorities concerned.