Nuh/Haryana: Even as Nuh limps back to normalcy amid curfew and mobile internet suspensions in the wake of communal clashes on 31 July, the fear that more Muslim properties will be razed as a part of the ‘anti-encroachment drive’ continues to hang heavy on the district — despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court putting a stay on demolitions in Nuh and neighbouring Gurugram.
Locals said the demolition drive, which began last Thursday after communal clashes during the Braj Mandal Yatra, a religious procession, which left six people dead and over 15 others injured, was not over illegal encroachments but to teach Muslims in the violence-hit district a “lesson”.
Nuh resident Sufiyan Ahmed scrambled to salvage whatever he could from his brother’s medical store located near the Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College in Nalhar, Nuh. The shop was razed in the demolition drive. Like many others ThePrint spoke to, Ahmed claimed that they never received any notice and alleged that Muslim properties were being cherry-picked.
“We have incurred a loss of Rs 10-15 lakh. We received no notice. We have been running this store for a decade. They can now show backdated notices and try to blame us for not removing our stock. But we have all the documents to prove that the shop wasn’t illegal,” Ahmed said.
Only last week, media reports had quoted state home minister Anil Vij as saying, “Ilaj mein bulldozer bhi ek karvayi hai (bulldozer is part of the treatment).”
The Punjab and Haryana HC Monday asked the state government if properties belonging to a “particular community” are being targeted “under the guise of law and order” and if an “exercise of ethnic cleansing” is being conducted.
Nuh Deputy Commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata refused to share details of the properties razed with ThePrint. “We will inform the court. It’s not like we are targeting Muslims. It is the media that is showing that. Some of these properties were rented by Hindus, too. They were informed, given ample time to remove their things and also served notices,” said Khadgata but did not share official figures of the structures demolished in Nuh.
He also didn’t clarify if the “illegal” structures stood on panchayat land, forest land, municipal land or public land.
However, sources in the police said the demolished hotels, restaurants, shops or homes were seen in CCTV footage as being used by “suspects to hide and pelt stones” on the pilgrims of the Braj Mandal Yatra.
Officials told ThePrint that over 162 permanent and 591 shanties (temporary structures) had been demolished on 57.5 acres of land at 37 places in Nuh before the high court order. These include medical stores, testing and ultrasound labs, hotels, commercial buildings, shanties, and homes.
A pattern of ‘punishment’
Though DC Khadgata called this demolition drive “routine”, a similar pattern of ‘punishment’ has been observed in other states as well post communal clash, targeting areas with alleged maximum rioting.
The demolitions in Nuh began in a slum dwelling in Tauru (around 150 shanties) where migrant workers have lived for years.
Speaking of those behind the clashes, Jawahar Yadav, Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, was quoted in media reports Sunday as saying, “They have disrupted peace and harmony and they will have to bear the cost of it. They have intentionally and with planning attacked the Hindu yatra that involved women and children”.
Legal experts have time and again questioned the use of demolition drives following communal violence as “punishment” and that it is a violation of Article 21 which pertains to protection of life and liberty.
Broken dreams & some collateral
In Nalhar, in front the Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Govt Medical College, beside the Ajimeya masjid, and across the road, there is a stretch of rubble — the remains of medical shops, labs and dhabas demolished.
Maulana Khalid of the masjid pointed at a tilted electricity pole outside. “The bulldozer reached the gates of the masjid when they were breaking the shops of Muslims. It hit the electricity pole. They only stopped when I rushed out, or they would have broken the masjid gate as well. There has been no electricity in the masjid since then. We have been living in darkness,” he said.
Denying that any stone pelting took place in the area, he said, “It is completely false that people hid in the properties here and pelted stones.”
One of the labs demolished here was run by Lokesh Sorout of Palwal. Speaking to ThePrint, he said that he had taken the property on rent after proper “verification of all documents” some three months ago from Mohammed Arif.
“Why would I sign a lease of five years without verifying the documents? There was no notice served. I have the PNDT (pre-natal diagnostic procedure) certificate approval as well. No one informed us that the shop is being demolished. I have lost machinery worth Rs 30 lakh. I am going to take legal action against the government for this. This lab supported our family of five. My father and brother both are farmers. This has broken all our dreams,” he said.
The owner, Mohammed Arif, couldn’t be reached on his contact numbers.
Suresh Kumar, a resident of Tauru, ran a Dr Lal Path lab in one of the properties owned by Hafiz Shareef near the masjid. He, too, said that he was never served any notice.
“I have been running the path lab for three years. I had also submitted documents for Lal Path Labs. I was there at the spot when they came for demolition. When I asked them, they said that they will also demolish the properties near the mandir. I didn’t get time to remove anything. I incurred a loss of Rs 3.5 lakh. I am the sole breadwinner of a family of nine,” Kumar said.
Speaking to ThePrint, Hafiz Shareef said, “They demolished nine shops that I rented out, including the Bhardwaj hotel, Lal Path labs, and a coaching centre. These properties and the land belong to me. Mohan ran the Bhardwaj hotel. Suresh ran Lal Path Lab. I lost crores in this demolition. They never served any notice. I had also invested Rs 7 lakh in Bhardwaj hotel.”
Shareef said that he constructed these structures in 2014. “I have a registry of the entire land,” he said. “I had asked Suresh if any notice was put up on our shops early in the morning. He told me there wasn’t any, since he was there to collect a sample for testing. They came later and razed everything to the ground,” Shareef added.
A couple of kilometres away, hotel Sahara was also demolished. The hotel roof, sources said, was used by “suspects” to throw stones on the pilgrims.
Pointing at the rubble near the masjid, Maulana Khalid said, “The shops run by Hindus are collateral damage. Their only concern was that the property belonged to Muslims.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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