UP police file FIR against 26, including ex-magistrate, for journalist’s house demolition
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The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered a first information report (FIR) against 26 individuals, including a former district magistrate and several police officers, for the illegal demolition of a journalist’s home in Maharajganj district.
The action comes following a Supreme Court directive issued on November 6, which ordered the state government to compensate the journalist, Manoj Tibrewal, with ₹25 lakh, declaring the demolition unlawful.
The case dates back to October 2019, when Tibrewal alleged that his house in Mohalla Hamid Nagar was unlawfully demolished during a road widening project without prior notice. He subsequently raised the matter with the Supreme Court, which took cognisance and registered it as a suo motu writ petition.
The court observed that the demolition violated due process and condemned the practice of using bulldozers to deliver “justice” without adhering to legal procedures.
The FIR, filed on Monday, names Indian Administrative Services officer Amar Nath Upadhyay, the district magistrate at the time, along with 25 others. They face charges including criminal conspiracy, disobedience of the law, and forgery. The FIR is based on a complaint Tibrewal submitted to the state director general of police in March 2020. In his complaint, the journalist described the demolition as part of a deliberate and oppressive strategy.
Tibrewal attributed the demolition to a vendetta following his father’s complaint highlighting irregularities in the ₹185-crore construction of a 21-km stretch of National Highway 730. Reports about this complaint were widely published, allegedly leading to resentment from the district magistrate and other officials, who he claimed harboured ill will towards his family.
The journalist asserted that his family had lived in the demolished home for 45 years, with the property having been purchased by his grandfather in the 1960s. He further alleged that officials summoned him, his father, and his brother for a meeting a day before the demolition, assuring them that private land would not be affected. Tibrewal claimed that he complied with instructions to remove parts of the property that encroached on the project area but found the entire house demolished the next day.
The Supreme Court’s judgement highlighted the absence of legal provisions allowing property demolition as a punitive measure. It directed the Crime Branch, and Crime Investigation Department to investigate the case, ensuring accountability for the actions taken against Tibrewal’s family.