The Assistant Commissioner of Police Dinesh Kumar from Bahadurgarh, Haryana posted a reel on Instagram on 26 October, which he has now deleted. In the video, he was seen in police uniform, instructing a JCB bulldozer to remove the vegetable vendors from the streets in an ‘anti-encroachment drive.'
The bulldozer was seen mowing down vegetables which were hurriedly deserted by the vendors. Soon after he uploaded the reel from his personal Instagram account, it gained wide public attention. Despite the fact that he was taken off duty as the traffic-in-charge, people expressed their support for his actions.
This is not an isolated incident of an officer carrying out demolitions or encroachment drives and posting it on their personal social media account as reels.
Many officers in charge of demolitions and encroachment drives are seen uploading the reels of their demolition proceedings. Police officers like ACP Dinesh Kumar who post these reels in their uniform, violate the guidelines of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) for social media usage by government employees.
The guidelines clearly state that “no government emblem, insignia, uniform etc. should not be used in personal posts.” Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora in 2023 issued a similar memo reiterating it as “abuse of the uniform.”
Many such guidelines have also been issued by the state governments of West Bengal , Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, stating that strict actions will be taken against the officers who are found violating them.
'Demolitions Are Not a Police-Centric Exercise...'
M Huzaifa, an advocate of Association of Protection of Civil Liberties (APCR), commented on the absurdity of these reels, “Demolitions are not a police-centric exercise. They are there just to maintain law and order, and provide protection to the Municipal Corporations as they carry out the demolitions.”
He added that while there are rules and guidelines against such social media content, they are vague and have not evolved as quickly as changes in technology.
There is also a lack of a definite mechanism for citizens to complain against such posts. He noted how the only means for citizens to register their protest is by recording the illegal activity by these officers, but that is also an evolving jurisprudence.
Some officers clearly violate the laws for their personal clout.
Aravind Unni, an activist and researcher at TISS reiterated how the actions of officers like DSP Dinesh Kumar involving removal of street vendors are illegal because the latter are protected by the Street Vendors Act, and any action against them needs to follow procedures of the town vending committees.
Many of the demolitions are also punitive in nature, inspired by the 'Bulldozer Justice' model in Uttar Pradesh. The Supreme Court has previously ruled against the arbitrary and punitive measures unleashed by such a model of extra-judicial vigilante justice–for instance, in November 2024, and again in April this year–but the social media content depicting such illegal demolitions has only increased in number since then.
Huzaifa opined that the impact of Supreme Court’s judgement on punitive demolitions might have slowed down these demolition drives in UP, but has only served to make it more popular in states such as Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
After ACP Dinesh Kumar was stripped of his duty, a senior official of the Haryana Police later defended the action as an “individual lapse of judgement.” He further added that “despite the right intent the method that was adopted was wrong.”
The 'Peela Panja'
In a recent interview with The Indian Express, ACP Dinesh Kumar justified posting reels on his personal social media by calling it “dissemination of information and creating awareness”. However, BPR&D guidelines state, “Information ought not to be released which would portray the police as insensitive or vindictive or which would suggest the pre-judging of an issue.”
In another of Dinesh Kumar’s reels, he can be seen calling the bulldozer a “peela panja” (yellow hand referring to bulldozer) as a symbol of justice.
While talking to Bhasha Singh, a journalist and activist from Delhi, she said “reels tell that the Constitution and the courts are not necessary, they create a mobocracy like the encounters that provide instant justice.”
She further added that these things come from the top. CM Yogi Adityanath reveres himself as “bulldozer baba,” and following him Shivraj Singh Chauhan calls himself as “bulldozer mama.” These police officers also play with the same popularity and support that these politicians have created. ag
Another police officer, DTP RS Batth, in one of his violent reels can be seen destroying 250 jhuggis (shanties) with the hateful background music “Bulldozer Baba,” composed by Prabhakar Maurya, and used by 25.8k reels on Instagram.
RS Batth is also responsible for several demolitions and encroachment drives in Gurugram, including the massive demolition drive in Prem Nagar on 8 October, which saw the razing down of 170 huts.
In the 2024 judgement by the Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan on “bulldozer justice,” the Supreme Court asked for the videography of these demolition proceedings for evidential purposes and to ensure accountability.
However, in an ironic twist, these videos are increasingly being flaunted by these officers on their personal social media handles. Reels, most commonly thought of in the same nexus as influencers and advertisers, have now become a new arena for police officers in uniform to openly demonstrate the violence wreaked by a bulldozer, violating various guidelines in the process.
The BPR&D guidelines also mention that, “Achievements of the department should be projected as such, and not as the individual efforts or achievements of any one officer” and “no media briefing or communication (official or unofficial) should be done for the personal glorification of any officer.”
Nutan Jhadav, an MCGM officer from Goregaon, Mumbai, posts these demolition reels like a content creator with jolly songs in the background to mock the affected people. Her account is filled with many such anti-encroachment reels with trendy Bollywood songs.
Similar reels were posted by Uday Kumar Shirookar, an Ex Assistant Commissioner of MCGM.
The influence of such reels can also be charted through the positive engagement of the public with such reels. There are many comments on these reels that invite these officers to conduct similar bulldozer-led encroachment drives in their areas too, in what can only be construed as a dogwhistle for the normalisation of what is endearingly termed as ‘bulldozer justice’.
Such officers are often seen as local heroes and saviors of the elite middle class, ridding public spaces of all 'unsavoury' elements, like ‘encroachers,' and poor people.
In another reel uploaded by Dinesh Kumar, he is found asking in the caption, for people to comment if he has done right by demolishing an “encroachment”; a staggering instance of a police officer currying public favour for the violent and unconstitutional exercise of bulldozer demolitions.
“Reels normalise the hate and the violence of lynchings and demolitions and transforms them into entertainment,” Bhasha Singh opined. She added that in this era of “thokne wali sarkar” (government that hits), reels help in creating an atmosphere of hate in favour of these demolitions.
She also highlights the hypocrisy inherent in letting convicted rapists like Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Ram Rahim go unpunished, their houses falling safely in the blindspots of ‘bulldozer justice.’
Besides, she says that this needs to be seen as a class, caste and religion issue.
Recently, DTP RS Batth, posted a reel on Instagram intimidating the public that “action will be taken against the people” who negatively comment on his Instagram reels.
Huzaifa, while commenting on RS Batth’s reels, said, “He speaks very rudely with the poor. Police cannot reveal faces and public parade the accused.” He believed that Police is sensationalising the issue, normalising misuse of their power and entertaining their online audience. In another one of his reels, he is seen threatening the street vendors that if they don't comply with his commands “he’ll take such actions that will set an example in Gurugram.”
This dangerous trend of government officials becoming “influencers” of hate speech and violence, undermines the legality of such demolitions by public support who end up reproducing consent for such further actions.
These social media trials extend to politicians as well. Renu Chaudhary, a BJP leader also posted reels where she sanctions such police actions against the vendors by using phrases like “meat ke tarah ulta latka dena” (hang them upside- down like meat), “nas daba denge” (will kill them).
A lot of similar content is posted in councillor Munesh Deddha’s account, MLA Ravinder Singh Negi and even the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami who posted reels about the demolition of a dargah on 3 July. Despite violating Instagram’s community guidelines, these reels are hardly ever reported or removed.
In this age of censorship and shadowbanning, with the increasing surveillance of the state, this disturbing trend of government officials turning into social media content creators deserves more scrutiny and accountability.