Justice Sandeep Kumar of the Patna High court on Monday ordered an immediate stay on the demolition of houses in Patna's Rajiv Nagar and directed the authorities not to take any coercive action against the owners.
Hearing an emergency petition filed by the affected house owners, Justice Kumar called the "demolitions by bulldozers" strong action of the authorities and summoned the district magistrate of Patna on Wednesday.
Here's what the judge said
Bulldozer, Kya yaha bhi bulldozer chalne laga? Aisa kaun powerful Admi hai jo aap bulldozer leke tod diye iska ghar? (Bulldozer, did the bulldozer thing have started here too? Is he such a powerful man that you broke his house with a bulldozer?) Whom do you represent, the state or some private person?"
"Tamasha bana diya ke kisika ghar bulldozer se tod denge (You have made a joke of this law and demolishing houses with bulldozer). Write this counter affidavit, from reading on the counter affidavit it seems that all the officials are hand in glove with some land mafia and they have illegally demolished the house of the petitioner, without following the due process of law," the judge added.
“Bhoomi vivado ko chinhit kar, thana ko hi power de diya gaya hai execution karne ka? Aap ka samasya hai to chale jaiye thana, paisa de dijiye aur ghar tudwa dijiye kisi ka? Civil court ko band kar dijiye (Have you given the police station power of execution because of issues in land disputes? If it is your problem then go to the police station, give the money and get someone's house demolished? Then you should shut down the civil court).”
"5-5 lakh ab sab se hum dilwayenge inko, ghar todne ka muaweza, personal pocket se (Now, I will try to get you a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs from everyone for breaking the house)."
Demolition drive was over
Meanwhile, Patna DM Chandrashekhar Singh claimed the demolition drive was over as 95 houses constructed on the land of the state housing board have been demolished.
Meanwhile, a total of 34 people were arrested for resisting demolition. The High Court asked for their immediate release as well.
Ruling party MLA Sanjiv Kumar Chaurasiya, who visited the area after his return from BJP national executive committee at Hyderabad, alleged that the police misbehaved with women and children and regretted the high-handedness by DM himself.
"Though I am a BJP MLA, our party leader is deputy chief minister. I am helpless against the brutal use of force in my constituency," said Chaurasiya.
The Patna District administration on Sunday freed 40 acres of land demolishing 70 illegally constructed houses at Rajiv Nagar in western Patna during a demolition drive that was carried out using 20 bulldozers.
