The letter notes that the local administration of Nuh in Haryana is bound to take the infamous plea that it had pasted notices on the 1,200-odd properties of Muslims. But digital records will nail their lies as the date, day, and time of pasting 1,200-odd notices will not be easy to fudge on videos or photos taken on mobile phones by the administration, it said.
Team India
NEW DELHI — P.S. Sahni, a member of the PIL Watch Group, has sent an open letter to the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court seeking his intervention in the case involving the demolition drive in the troubled Nuh city of Haryana.
The letter appeals to the chief justice to order the rebuilding of the 1,200 odd properties of Muslims at the same site at state expense, Countercurrents reported on Tuesday.
The letter reads:
“Following the mass scale demolition of Muslim settlements in Nuh, Haryana two hon’ble judges of your court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and stayed further demolitions. Since then the case is being tossed around from one bench to the other. Too hot to handle? Political pressure at play? Leaving the Haryana administration to fudge records, and plant backdated legal notices for demolition? Ensuring that most Muslim victims would have migrated out of Nuh due to fear or police pressure or both.
“I am sharing a first-hand experience which may help the court while passing the final order. For the most part of the period 1984 to 89 I worked voluntarily at Jagat Mata Kusht Ashram, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi. On 05.06.1986, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) bulldozed slum tenements of these leprosy patients.
“Mrs. Kapila Hingorani (now since deceased) raised the matter before the Supreme Court. During the court’s summer vacation a bench headed by then Chief Justice, P. N. Bhagwati passed a two-page final order on 02.07.1986 inter alia stating: “It is elementary that even if a person is unauthorisedly in possession of land or has constructed structure without lawful authority he cannot be forcibly evicted from such land or structure and whatever action is taken for evicting him, has to be in accordance with law. Since the learned counsel for the DDA is unable to produce any order of the appropriate authority we must take the tentative view that the action of the DDA was not in accordance with the law and if that be so, it is obvious that the person whose huts have been demolished and who have been forcibly thrown out should be provided with accommodation. (emphasis provided)
“The DDA reconstructed the demolished jhuggis at state expense at the same site. Out of affection the leprosy patients named that part of the colony as ‘Justice P.N. Bhagwati Block’.
“To the best of my knowledge, this final order of the Supreme Court has not been set aside by a larger bench; this is the only such order passed by a court since 1947. You could Sir, use this order and pass a judgement to the effect that all the 1,200 odd properties of Muslims be rebuilt at the same site at state expense where these existed.
“One way to nail the administration if it has fudged records or planted backdated legal notices is to call for the physical records. The movement of every one of these alleged legal notices should be on physical records at every level of bureaucracy; and then the post office records of speed-posted letters/notices. A forensic analysis could be done of the files to ascertain if pages have been added at a later date. The local administration is bound to take the infamous plea that it had pasted notices on these 1,200 odd properties of Muslims. But digital records will nail their lies as the date, day, and time of pasting 1,200 odd notices will not be easy to fudge on videos, and photos taken on mobile phones by the administration.
“The nation is at crossroads. Your order could decide whether India slips into full-fledged fascism or on a recovery road to secularism.
May you Sir, always pursue the path of truth!”
