Instant Injustice: On Communal Polarisation and Bulldozer Politics in Udaipur

Due process is the biggest casualty of the bulldozer phenomenon which ensures neither justice nor accountability.

‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, possibly India’s most popular slogan of the past decade, has often been parroted as a key aim of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ironically, during this period, hate and communal polarisation at the expense of justice have emerged as major threats to social harmony and national cohesion.

Bulldozer actions and the instant injustice they signify are defining features of this era, whereby basic law and order issues are weaponised to worsen social frictions and communal divisions – and the latest example of this recurring pattern has erupted in Rajasthan’s Udaipur over the past few days.

The crisis began over a clash between two teenage boys studying at a government school in Udaipur. While the exact cause for their fight is unclear, a 15-year-old Muslim student of Class 10 allegedly stabbed his Hindu classmate with a knife on 16 August at their school in the Walled City area.

The injured boy was quickly rushed to the Maharana Bhupal Hospital in a critical condition. A team of three specialist doctors from Jaipur was also rushed to Udaipur to monitor the boy’s treatment, but he reportedly succumbed to his injuries on 19 August.

When the news of the incident spread, some Hindu right-wing outfits began indulging in arson and violence. Besides vitiating Udaipur’s communal atmosphere, the miscreants unleashed large-scale arson wherein they set fire to cars, ransacked shops, pelted stones, and raised provocative slogans outside some mosques and tried to storm into them. Given the rising tensions, all schools in Udaipur were soon shut and even mobile internet services have been snapped since 16 August as the administration tried to check the spread of rumours and provocative messages through social media.

The Muslim student who allegedly stabbed the Hindu student was soon detained under the Juvenile Justice Act – and even his father was quickly arrested. Why the father was arrested and the specific charges against him still remain unclear. Strangely, no action was initiated against the vicious elements who indulged in large-scale arson and worsened the communal frictions in Udaipur.

In contrast to the laxity in tackling Hindutva hardliners, the Udaipur administration lost no time in targeting and demolishing the house of the accused Muslim boy. Within 24 hours of the stabbing incident, the government claimed the house was constructed illegally on land of the Forest Department which sent an evacuation notice to the family on Saturday morning.

Even the encroachment notice was addressed to the suspect’s father who is a tenant – and not to the owner of the house. Though the notice gave three days to the family to vacate, the house was bulldozed by the afternoon in a joint operation of the Forest Department and the Udaipur Municipal Corporation.

Due Process is the Biggest Casualty of Bulldozer 'Justice'

The hasty 'bulldozer justice' on the lines of similar actions in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh raises serious questions. Beyond the fundamental issue of why a family should be punished for the misdeed of its minor child, the demolition of a house surrounded by lots of other houses makes one wonder why the house of only the Muslim juvenile was singled out for bulldozer action. If, as the Forest Department claims, the house of the stabbing suspect stood on forest land, why were the other houses in that locality not considered illegal? This “pick and choose” approach of the government seems a grave violation of fundamental rights and principles of natural justice.

In addition, state authorities have no explanation for the curious coincidence that the Forest Department woke up to the ‘illegality’ of the Muslim boy’s house just hours after the stabbing incident. Was the forest department waiting for this incident to remove the encroachment? Also, when the stabbing suspect and his family were only tenants, why was the owner punished? In a video circulated soon after the demolition, a man who calls himself Rashid Khan and is the landlord of the house says, “Why is the administration demolishing my house?....This is a huge injustice, and I have lost my house for no fault of mine.”

Moreover, there’s no logical justification for the great haste of the demolition exercise. Even if we assume, for argument’s sake, that the house was ‘illegal’, what was the big rush for the demolition? At a time when communal tensions were running high and the Udaipur administration was appealing for citizens to be calm, the brutal bulldozer action hardly seems an effort to check social frictions and fissures.

The Udaipur crisis also underlines serious questions of accountability. After the fight between the two students, who was responsible for the way miscreants created mayhem in Udaipur? When will the rioters be identified and punished? Will there be any discussion on the failure of the police and administration? Though bulldozers now symbolise a policy of destroying properties of those accused of crimes as a means to dispense instant justice, due process is the biggest casualty of this phenomenon which ensures neither justice nor accountability.

This Crisis Demands an Investigation That is Thorough and Fair

The abrupt demolition of the accused boy's home raises larger issues of justice, fair play, and equality of treatment expected from the state in a democracy. Besides being an inappropriate response to a crime by a minor, the bulldozer action violates basic principles of justice where the presumption of innocence is a cornerstone of the legal system. The demolition has not only punished the accused but his entire family which has been rendered homeless. The absence of adequate legal representation and the denial of basic rights to the affected family point to a systemic failure to uphold the rule of law and reflect the dangers of allowing emotions and communal passions to override legal procedures.

Significantly, in a letter to the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) claims the demolition of the Muslim boy’s home amounts to “nothing less than Goonda Raj.” Noting that the accused’s family was not given time to even approach the high court, the PUCL asserts, “If this is allowed to be continued, we firmly believe that the day is not far when the executive will bulldoze even the courts of law who are passing orders against their government.”

The PUCL has demanded strict action against officers who ordered the demolition and wants this probe to be monitored by the Rajasthan High Court as the “police and administration have shown their extreme bias against the accused, even prior to the investigation.”

Mercifully, Congress-BJP leaders have so far stayed quiet on this case beyond platitudes for peace and harmony. But the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has attacked the attempts to turn a fight between two school children into a communal incident. It has also accused the BJP of conspiring to target the minority community in a bid to seek political mileage by sharpening communal tensions. Political circles are buzzing that government overreach in the Udaipur incident is linked to the upcoming by-polls to six Assembly seats in Rajasthan. The Hindu boy who was stabbed has sadly died and there are fears of communal tensions escalating further in Udaipur.

Though bulldozers as a tool of punishment have become a disturbing trend in recent times, it is essential to recognise that when the state resorts to such harsh measures, it undermines the very foundations of a just and equitable society. In that sense, the Udaipur crisis demands a thorough, impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the demolition and those responsible for this act must be held accountable. As the protection of human rights and upholding the rule of law are non-negotiable principles in a democratic society, the Udaipur demolition is a stain on the nation’s conscience and deserves to be questioned by all those who believe in justice, equality, and human dignity.

(The author is a veteran journalist and expert on Rajasthan politics. Besides serving as a Resident Editor at NDTV, he has been a Professor of Journalism at the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur. He tweets at @rajanmahan. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)