On Thursday, the Gauhati High Court expressed grave concern about the trend of bulldozing accused persons' homes in the name of investigation and took suo motu cognizance of such an action initiated by a Superintendent of Police (SP) who razed down the homes of five men accused of torching a police station.

A division bench led by Chief Justice R. M. Chhaya cited the SP's action, said: "Show me from any criminal jurisprudence that for investigating a crime, the police without any order, can uproot a person and apply a bulldozer."

The State Counsel attempted to clarify that this action was not intended to uproot anyone.

However, the Chief Justice remarked,

"He may be an SP but even your higher ups need to pass through the gamut of law. Only because they are head of the police department, they cannot break anyone's house. Nobody is safe in this country if this kind of action is permitted."

According to reports, the SP ordered the demolition of the homes of five Muslim men accused of setting fire to the Batadrava police station in Nagaon district after a villager died in police custody.

During the hearing, the bench inquired whether any prior permission was obtained for this action, to which the Counsel replied that permission was obtained for a search of the house.

The bench then directed the State Counsel to notify the Director General of Police (DGP) of the incident because the SP would be useless (to the court) because he would rely solely on his reports to save face.

"Let the DGP know of this, otherwise this issue would not be resolved. And please understand, this isn't the manner in which you control the law and order. You can prosecute a person for whatever offence s/he commits. Who gave powers to the police to bulldoze someone's house?" the bench observed further.

The bench, which also included Justice Soumitra Saikia, was hearing a suo motu case regarding the bulldozing of the homes of five men in Nagaon district who were accused of torching the Batadrava Police Station in May of this year.

The Court adjourned the next hearing in the matter to December 13 at the request of the Senior Government Advocate, who wanted more time to get instructions.

Case Detail:

In Re State of Assam and others

PIL(Suo Moto)/3/2022