New Delhi: Anjum Malik was hoping to put some money into extending her home now that she had a two-month-old son.
On 21 October 2022, she lost both—her baby and her home. That day, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi police arrived in her locality, the Kharak Satbari area of Chhatarpur in South Delhi, and demolished 27 homes, an echo of similar demolitions in many northern states over the last two years, seemingly in violation of various court rulings and laws.
With a 70% Muslim population, Kharak Satbari is a warren of two-storey and three-storey homes, finished with plaster or cheap tiles, stuck together along narrow streets.
The homes are occupied by working class families, including street vendors, small businessmen, people engaged in domestic or construction work, some self-employed. Some have lived here for up to 30 years.
Over a month since the demolition drive, residents were still poking through the rubble to look for belongings, barely making ends meet after losing homes built over decades. Most continued to live in what was left of their houses, surrounded by rubble.
Malik, 32, her eyes swollen and wearing a haggard look, said her baby boy suffered from a heart condition. He had seemed to be recovering from a fever on the day of the demolition.
“I don’t know if he caught a cold or if it was the shock, or both, but he did not stop crying,” Malik told Article 14. They rushed to a nearby hospital. “He was put on a ventilator and then, just like that, he passed away.”
According to the DDA, the homes in Kharak Satbari were demolished after the agency lost a land dispute with a private construction company.
Mirroring similar recent actions in India’s capital city, the demolition was undertaken in violation of Supreme Court orders and New Delhi’s own municipal statutes.
The demolitions came despite the Delhi High Court’s remarks in September 2022 that no property may be demolished on the ground of being an unauthorised construction without giving the owner an opportunity for a hearing.
Harsh Mander, former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, human rights worker and writer, said “not even a pretence” of due process had been followed in the Kharak Satbari demolition, while the divided jurisdiction of land in the capital city among the DDA, the local government and municipal bodies complicated the process of seeking justice.
“The act of demolition here seemingly boils down to a parallel of three things: anti-poor laws and bias where the system has not supported the poor with proper housing, pro-builder and business lobby and the communal bias,” said Mander. “These combined form a toxic mixture that only ends up affecting the vulnerable and the poor.”
Malik spoke of her deep trauma. “Sometimes, I feel like I want to kill myself,” she told Article 14.
A Violation Of Delhi’s Laws
Section 247 of the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 says no order of demolition shall be made unless the person has been given, by means of a notice served, “a reasonable opportunity of showing cause why such order shall not be made”.
Similarly, section 368 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 states that even if the commissioner orders a demolition, the building must be vacated within a period specified in the order, “not being less than thirty days from the date of the order”. The demolition must be undertaken “within six weeks after the expiration of that period”.
Even if a building is deemed “unfit for human habitation”, The Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act 1956 prescribes the same norms of a 30-day notice period and a time-bound demolition subsequent to that.
In Sudama Singh & others vs Government Of Delhi 2010, the Delhi high court held that before any eviction, it was the duty of the State to survey all those facing evictions and to draft a rehabilitation plan in consultation with the “persons at risk”.
There is no evidence that any of these norms and statutes were followed in Kharak Satbari, where there was neither any survey beforehand nor were locals served notices.
No Notice Of Demolition, As Law Requires
“We asked the police repeatedly to show us the notice for the demolition,” Reshma Parveen, 38, told Article 14. “But they responded by saying that they don’t have it and even if they did, they wouldn’t show it to us.” Other locals confirmed that no notice was served.
This story was originally published in article-14.com . Read the full story here