NEW DELHI: Aggrieved by the demolition of his house and shop, allegedly done after his 15-year-old son purportedly shouted an anti-India slogan in Maharashtra‘s Sindhudurg district during the India-Pakistan Champions Trophy match, a man has moved Supreme Court claiming it was done in violation of the apex court’s ruling against ‘bulldozer justice‘. The court is likely to hear his plea on Monday.
The match was played between the two teams in Dubai on Feb 23, and an FIR was registered against the boy’s family on the same night, with the complainant alleging he had shouted anti-India slogans during the match. Kitabullah Hamidulla Khan, a 40-year-old scrap dealer, alleged that thereafter, he, his wife and minor son were taken to a police station in Malvan at midnight and locked up.
Though the boy was allowed to go after four to five hours, Khan and his wife remained in police custody for two days till Feb 25 when they were granted bail by the judicial magistrate, who noted in an order there was nothing on record which prima facie shows the alleged act of the accused person was detrimental to the nation’s integration.
Seeking SC’s intervention, the petitioner alleged people were mobilised by the local MLA, and local authority was pressured to undertake the demolition exercise, which was done a day after the match on Feb 24 in the presence of many people. The authority demolished the petitioner’s tin-shed shop and house on the alleged ground of it being an “illegal structure”.
Pleading the apex court to initiate contempt proceedings, the petitioner alleged that the action of the civic authorities was arbitrary, illegal and malafide, and done in violation of SC’s direction issued in Nov last year in which the court had said demolition exercise cannot be undertaken as a punitive measure against any accused or convict. It had also laid down procedure to be followed by authorities before demolishing illegal construction and it included giving prior notice.
