Residents have already been served with a notice asking them to vacate their homes within three days
Team Clarion
BHOPAL — Hundreds of houses belonging to the members of the Muslim community would reportedly be demolished by the authorities after allegations of cow slaughter were levelled in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district.
According to Zee Salaam, the authorities are planning to bulldoze over 300 houses owned by members of the Qasai (butchers) community before the Holi festival on Friday (March 14). The residents have already been served with a notice asking them to vacate their homes within three days.
The matter is related to the Qasai Mandi in Damoh where the authorities have identified the houses allegedly built without acquiring permission from the local administration.
The issue started from the Sitabaoli area where several structures were demolished by the local administration following the March 7 allegations of cow slaughter. The action was taken after Hindutva groups created a ruckus over the cow slaughter allegations, demanding strict action and the removal of the alleged encroachment from the area. The authorities assured the groups of action in this regard. Soon, the administration moved in the machinery and demolished six large structures.
Following the bulldozer action, Pradeep Sharma, CMO of the municipal council, said the administration has removed the encroachment worth crores of rupees. The demolished structure belonged to those who were accused of cow slaughter by the Hindutva outfits.
SDM RL Bagri said the demolition drive will continue. He also stated that there were many more encroachments in the area and would be removed after serving notices.
According to the police, members of the Hindutva outfit had gone to the area on Friday morning after getting a tip-off on cow slaughter and were allegedly fired upon by the accused.
Damoh Superintendent of Police Sharutkirti Somvanshi said five persons were arrested on Saturday on charges of cow slaughter.
All the accused were also paraded and forced to chant slogans like “cow is our mother, slaughtering cow is a crime and the police is our father”. Reportedly, some lawyers also thrashed the accused when they were resented in the court.
Earlier in Ujjain, two Muslim men accused of cow slaughter were paraded, thrashed and forced to raise similar slogans.
The bulldozer action in the state comes even as the Supreme Court has taken a strong view against the demolition of the homes of those accused of criminal activities.
Last November, the Supreme Court directed that no demolition should be carried out without prior 15-day notice to the owners and without following the statutory guidelines.
