Hit by communal violence just days before, Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on 20 April saw seven bulldozers roll into the neighbourhood accompanied by heavy police deployments as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation razed parts of shops, carts, tin sheds, homes, and the gate of a mosque.
The demolition, which started around 10 am, went on for over an hour till 12:15 pm despite the Supreme Court’s directions at 11 am that the status quo be maintained.
And taking notice of the disregard of its order, an apex court bench of Justices L N Rao and B R Gavai heard a clutch of petitions on 21 April, where it extended its status quo order for two more weeks and said that it would “take a serious view of all demolitions that took place after the court's decision was communicated to the mayor.”
The demolition drive has left behind a trail of despair in Jahangirpuri, due to the lack of due process followed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), with many vendors and shopkeepers asserting that they were not given any notice of the demolition drive and more so, were not even given a chance to move their carts and stalls.
In today’s episode, we take a look back at what happened in Jahangirpuri on 20 April and the impact of the demolitions through The Quint’s ground reports and also take a look at the arguments made in the supreme court with The Quint’s Legal Editor, Vakasha Sachdev.
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