Guwahati: In the Kamrup Metropolitan district of Assam, the homes of 150 families were demolished on Tuesday as the eviction drive continues. This occurred less than two weeks after two men were fatally shot by police during violent clashes, according to The Indian Express.
On September 9, approximately 240 homes, most of which belonged to Bengali-origin Muslims living in the Morigaon district, were demolished by local administrative officials. Over several decades, the people had constructed their homes in the low-lying area.
The officials came again three days later, on September 12, and given them a two-hour deadline to leave the land. This resulted in a violent altercation between the locals and the authorities, during which the police fatally shot two men.
Thirty-three people were hurt in the altercation, including 22 government and police personnel. The residents filed a motion with the Gauhati High Court contesting the eviction notice that was handed to them on September 13.
In accordance with the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, the eviction notice claimed that the occupants were "unauthorised" to claim the plot and were in "illegal" possession of the land, which was designated for Scheduled Tribe members.
They were given a three-day deadline to leave the land. The villagers claimed to have titles to the land, therefore the High Court on Friday stayed evicting multiple families from the area. The residents were ordered by the court to present their case to the deputy commissioner of the district.
Following the Assam government's declaration to the court that no action would be taken against the families until the deputy commissioner made a decision about the residents' appeals, a stay order was issued. Officer Nitul Khataniar of Sonapur Circle told The Indian Express that the houses demolished on Tuesday do not belong to the people who received the High Court's stay order.
“In the first phase, we had conducted evictions on government land,” Khataniar was quoted as saying. “This is the second phase where we are conducting it on personal patta land.”
In order to prevent the impacted families from relocating to the area, Khataniar continued, the demolished structures had been removed. According to the Hindustan Times, the Goalpara district administration also conducted a demolition operation that resulted in the eviction of 450 families, or roughly 2,000 people.
The newspaper cited unidentified officials as saying that the households were occupying 55 hectares of the Bandarmatha Reserve Forest illegally. Goalpara's evictions were executed in compliance with a High Court ruling.