Follow due process of law before razing house of accused: HC tells MP govt
The Madhya Pradesh high court on Thursday asked the state government not to demolish the home of an accused in the Khargone communal violence without following the due process of law.The petition was filed one Fareeda Bi, a resident of Tawadi Mohalla on Thursday, whose husband, Firoz Khan, was arrested on Tuesday in connection to his alleged involvement in the violence.In the plea, Fareeda moved the court seeking protection against possible demolition of her newly constructed 1400 sq metre houses after municipal council officials asked her to produce building permissions after Khan was arrested.Also Read | No public interest in this, says HC on PIL against demolishing suspects’ houses in Madhya Pradesh“I got scared of the demolition drive. We have spent all our savings in constructing the house and now, municipality is looking for a reason to demolish my house,” Fareeda’s plea states.A single judge bench of Vijay Kumar Shukla asked state government to follow due process of law before demolition.“The petition is filed on apprehension that the respondents may demolish the structure of the house of the petitioner without following the due process of law. Learned Additional Advocate General for the respondents/State submits that no action shall be taken against the petitioner for demolition of the house without following due process of law. In view of the aforesaid statement made on behalf of the respondents/State, the court disposed of the petition,” the judge said in his order.On the behalf of the state government, advocate general Pushyamitra Bhargava gave a written assurance.The petitoner’s lawyer, Ashar Warsi, said the judgment will bring relief to many people as it is the first time the government has given any written assurance in this regard.On Wednesday, the Jabalpur bench of the high court had rejected a PIL seeking a ban on demolition saying that it was not a public issue.As many as 50 people, including the Khargone superintendent of police, Siddharth Choudhary, were injured in a clash which erupted after a few people allegedly threw stones at a Ram Navami procession on April 10, police said.The next day, the drict adminration started demolition of at least 50 “illegal” structures of people accused, while the state government said damage caused to public and private properties during the violence will be recovered from rioters.
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