Gujarat govt launches drive to raze illegal settlements in Ahmedabad locality post detention of Bangladeshis

Ahmedabad: Days after apprehending over 1000 people on suspicion of being undocumented Bangladeshis, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) started demolishing their houses alleged to have been constructed illegally on Chandola lake.

The Bhupendra Patel-led government described the drive as part of "historic steps to prevent anti-national activities by Bangladeshi nationals who have illegally infiltrated the land of India."

A group of affected people filed an urgent petition yesterday in Gujarat high court seeking a stay on the drive claiming it was being done arbitrarily as they were not given prior notices. They claimed to have been living at the site for the past 60 years and were covered under Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy of 2010 and 2013.

They claimed that they were Indians hailing from states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal and not Bangladeshis as alleged. The residents are largely Muslims who claim to have been living there for a long time.

"In the name of law and order and by-passing the statutory mandate of notice, the respondent AMC and police personnel and officers undertook the 'Bulldozer Justice' under the pretext that these people are illegal immigrants," the petition jointly filed by 18 people said.

Advocate Anand Yagnik, who represented the petitioners, said that after hearing the parties, the court refused to grant stay. He said that the court concluded that "the petitioners are part of the notified lake and that they have put up construction without permission and hence they fall under the exception of para 91 of the recent judgement of Supreme Court and therefore no notice required before eviction and demolition."

He said that the court also cited a recent judgement of the apex court which held that long standing occupation doesn’t give any right to the illegal encroacher.

The petitioners claimed they possess all necessary documents including, ration cards, election cards, aadhar cards, pan card, driving licence, electricity bill, schools leaving certificate and birth certificate, among others.

They also said that though police detained their family members but "no order from the tribunals such as foreign tribunal under the foreign act, 1946, foreign tribunal order, 1964, which can declare them illegal immigrants, have been passed as yet."

They alleged that their family members were illegally detained by police and "meted out with illegal custodial atrocities and forced to confess that they were Bangladeshis." Later, their houses were targeted through demolition.

Meanwhile, the state government in a statement said, "Today, Ahmedabad police and municipal corporation conducted a historic demolition/encroachment removal drive at Chandola lake. The drive aims to completely uproot from the ground the anti-national and illegal activities. Safe havens built by defacing and destroying the pristine lake/talav have been dismantled.

The statement claimed, "The location where 4 terrorists were detained a few months ago has been demolished. In recent years, the Gujarat ATS arrested four active members of the banned terrorist organisation AQIS (All-Quadea Indian Sub-continent), who were originally from Bangladesh, from an area in Ahmedabad city under UAPA. The NIA is currently investigating the case."

The government also said that the area was being used by "drug cartels, illegal Bangladeshis, prostitution and trafficking networks and forged document nexus."

In the affidavit filed in the court in response to the petition by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Detection of Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, Ajit Rajian, claimed that the driver was part of maintenance of public order.

It said that "maintenance of public order also includes action for "pre-empting/controlling/removing/regulating the areas illegally encroached upon by the illegal immigrants, more particularly in the wake of the Pahalgam incident."

"The actions being taken for maintaining the safety and security of the people at large of the state as also protecting National Security, can't be hounded by the principles of natural justice," Rajian has stated in the affidavit.

It said that the petitioners were "unidentifiable" and it was not known whether they were "Indian citizens or not."  The affidavit stated that DCB carried out a "name-based verification" overnight but couldn't confirm the "existence of any of the portioners" at their given address which was vague.

"Based on intelligence feedback gathered by the answering respondent, it is respectfully submitted that the petitioners, if at all they do exist, would not be Indian citizens; and, in all likelihood, are Bangladeshi illegal aliens," said the affidavit.