Indian court stays demolition of structures in communal violence-hit area

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India's top court on Wednesday stayed demolition of “encroachments” by authorities in the same area of the capital New Delhi where communal violence broke out last week.

The bulldozers sent by the local municipality, which is administered by India’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), arrived in the Jahangirpuri neighborhood in the morning,

On April 16, several people, including police officers, were injured when clashes erupted in Jahangirpuri during a Hindu religious procession.

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, the country's largest socio-religious Muslim organization, approached the Supreme Court earlier this week, pleading that no residential or commercial structures be demolished.

The petition came after the government of the Madhya Pradesh state, which is also ruled by the BJP, demolished the houses and shops of many Muslims after they were accused of pelting stones at a Hindu procession, with a similar action taking place in neighboring Gujarat state.

M.R. Shamshad, advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India, said the matter of the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri was mentioned before the chief justice of India on Wednesday morning.

"The honorable court has directed maintaining the status quo on the site,” he said.

Local television channels also showed a structure attached to a mosque was razed in the area.

While the authorities described the campaign in Jahangirpuri as regular and not aimed to target any specific community, opposition politicians have accused the ruling party of targeting Muslims.

"BJP has declared war against the poorest. In the name of encroachment, it’s going to destroy homes in Delhi like UP (Uttar Pradesh) & MP (Madhya Pradesh)," Asaduddin Owaisi, an Indian Muslim leader and a member of parliament, wrote on Twitter.

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind had also said the plea is "against the dangerous politics of bulldozers that have been started to destroy minorities especially Muslims under the guise of crime prevention in Bhartiya Janata Party ruled states."

Several states experienced communal violence last week during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami, prompting officials to impose a curfew in Khargone city in Madhya Pradesh state to bring the situation under control.

A number of videos have surfaced on social media showing a procession of Hindu men during the festival stopping in Muslim neighborhoods, playing offensive songs about Muslims, and shouting hate slogans.

Right-wing groups in the southern state of Karnataka, where girls were recently barred from wearing hijab or headscarf in classrooms, have undertaken anti-Muslim campaigns in recent weeks, including the exclusion of Muslim traders from fairs near Hindu temples and a push to ban halal meat.