Jahangirpuri Demolition: SC intervenes, halts sudden demolition drive, officials stop 2 hours after

The Supreme Court has intervened after a couple of hours of demilition in Jahangirpuri in the national capital and ordered stay of the drive by Municipla Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials. It took more than two hours to finally halt the drive.

Brinda Karat, leader of CPI(M) had to rush to the are with the Supre Cpurt order and convince the civic body authorites and Delhi Police to halt the demolition.  

The Supreme Court ordered status quo on the demolition drive being carried out by the municipal corporation against the alleged encroachers in the Jahangirpuri area, where communal clashes broke out on Hanuman Jayanti.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana. Dave said there is something serious that requires the top court's immediate intervention. "Completely unauthorised and unconstitutional demolition has been ordered in the Jahangirpuri area...with no notice to anybody," said Dave.

He further submitted that the authorities were supposed to give at least five-six days' notice to the people. Dave said it was supposed to start at 2 p.m. but they started the demolition at 9 a.m. knowing that the matter will be mentioned before the court.

The Chief Justice directed status quo on the demolition drive and agreed to list the matter for hearing on Thursday before an appropriate bench.

The area was under heavy security cover since Wednesday morning and several roadside shops have already been razed to ground. Two shops were demolished during the drive.

The area on April 16 bore witness to violent communal clashes that erupted between two groups of people, belonging to different communities, during a Shobha Yatra procession on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.

At the time of filing of this report, two JCBs were demolishing the structures. The residents in the vicinity of the demolition drive could be seen watching from the rooftops and the windows of their houses.

On Wednesday morning, Jahangirpuri was put under heavy security cover amid Municipal Corporation's decision to conduct an anti-encroachment drive in the area.

The roads were excessively barricaded and manned by the police personnel along with the paramilitary forces. Situation was tense in the area.

To efficiently secure the area in case of any emergency, the police have divided it into five sectors -- 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 -- . Police personnel in every sector are being led by Additional DCPs. Drones are also being used for surveillance.

Special CP Dependra Pathak while interacting with media said that NDMC will decide what has to be removed and the police will only provide protection.