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Eleven demolished homes, and 16 that are yet untouched, paint a picture of contrast at a neighbourhood in Bhainswahi village, in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district.
The homes were razed by authorities on June 15 after police, in an operation targeting cattle smuggling, said they had found beef inside fridges, animal hides in sacks, and bones in pickup trucks there. While authorities maintain the 11 structures were built on government land, 16 homes in the same neighbourhood — which authorities acknowledge are also illegal but where beef was not recovered — are still standing.
“We demolished the homes where beef was found and left the others alone for now. Which homes to demolish is not part of our protocol. It is decided by the revenue department. We were taking action against cattle smugglers. Leather companies in Jabalpur which bought animal hides and local tribal people who bought cow meat from this gang will be investigated. The NSA will be invoked against five accused who are repeat offenders,” said Inder Baldev, SHO of Nainpur police station.
All the homes belong to members of the Qureshi community. One person has been arrested, while 10 are absconding.
Mandla District Collector Saloni Sidana told The Indian Express that authorities “have not targeted specific homes”. “The local administration has been serving notices to residents of this village since 2022. It is very difficult for the authorities to operate here. In 2016, a policeman serving a warrant in this village was beaten to death. We managed to remove the illegal structures only after residents fled (during the police crackdown). This area was earmarked as semi-forest land for cattle grazing and it was illegally occupied,” she said.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.