The Vijapur Demolition

The 4am destruction of 35 houses

1 / Land Rights

At 4am, the police arrived and surrounded the village, bringing two bulldozers with them. Cutting the power and hence the lights, they roused the villagers and forced them to flee into their temple while they systematically demolished their houses for being illegally built.

A few days later, sitting in an office at the Human Rights Commission in Mehsana, I suggested to the officer that demolishing peoples’ houses without at least letting them know was pretty criminal. He countered with the perfectly reasonable suggestion that perhaps they had been notified, and it was really only their word against the local government. I accepted this, and offered that, even so, surely arriving at 4am, cutting the power and lights, and then beating men, women and children, and refusing people the opportunity to collect their belongings, was unacceptable. He conceded that I had a point, and quite possibly a very good case to be brought.

The problem with the Human Rights Commission is that they are fairly toothless, and they can only offer recommendations to other government departments and point out problems, rather than enforcement, yet they are one of the few areas offering hope to the tribe at Vijapur. Between meetings with the district magistrate, the very agreeable Mr Ajay Badhoo, the human rights commission, the tribe and the neighbouring town, I concluded that not everyone was telling the truth, quite possibly because not everyone knew the truth.

But roughly, here is the outline, in no particular order:

The survey of the area with borders and land boundaries was out of date.
The tribals had been paying rent for many years.
The neighbouring town and merchants did not like the tribals.
The order to demolish may have been based on incorrect boundaries.

The idea that an entire village could be demolished on the basis of an incorrect and out of date survey is alarming, and asking the magistrate whether his own house would be treated in this way shows how power, enforcement and justice still work in India.