Listen to this article:

New Delhi: In a scathing judgement on April 1, the Supreme Court directed the Prayagraj Development Authority in Uttar Pradesh to pay Rs. 10 lakh to six people whose houses were illegally demolished.

The judgement comes at a time when the Uttar Pradesh government under chief minister Adityanath has been defending ‘bulldozer justice’ – the authorities’ stance of demolishing the property of usually Muslim people accused of crimes.

The Wire had earlier reported on how one of the demolished houses belonged to a retired Urdu professor Ali Ahmed Fatmi. The harsh action hurt Fatmi financially and socially destabilised him, the report had said. “I cannot even bear to look at it,” he had told The Wire.

Prayagraj administration also demolished his daughter Naila Fatmi’s house as well as adjoining properties of lawyer Zulfiquar Haider........

© The Wire