On 7 September 2026 Goalpara officials demolished 73 homes in Krishnai (Matia Revenue Circle), saying houses sat on agricultural land without a change-of-use grant and that some blocked farming and drainage. Families had bought the plots, officials said; the issue was land-use rules, not a named community.

Reports: 24 hours to leave and pull down houses after years on the land. Gauhati High Court asked why the rush and whether residents could answer; later coverage said the bench called the demolition prima facie unauthorised and short of natural justice. Power to regulate land is not a free hand: notice, a chance to contest, then force.

Homes were reportedly Muslim; residents cite papers and, in some accounts, prior river-erosion loss—claims that need case-by-case checks. Assam’s land, migration, and settlement politics make even-handed procedure more necessary. A later court win does not rebuild a house. Enforce the code with notice, proportion, and appeal, whoever lives there. The fight is now about process, not only classification.

The demolition of 73 homes in Assam’s Goalpara district has brought an old question back into India’s public debate: where does administrative authority end and due process begin? On September 7, 2026, the Goalpara district administration carried out an eviction drive in the Krishnai area, demolishing homes across several villages under the Matia Revenue Circle. The administration justified the action on the grounds that residential structures had been constructed on land classified for agricultural use without the required change in land-use status. Yet the........

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