Demolition Continues In Jahangirpuri Despite Supreme Court Stay

A demolition drive in New Delhi's Jahangirpuri went ahead despite the Supreme Court staying the drive on Wednesday.

Even after a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana ordered a status quo on the matter, structures were still demolished by the the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The SC bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana ordered a status quo on the matter after it was brought up by senior lawyers Dushyant Dave, Kapil Sibal, PV Surendranath and Prashant Bhushan.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind challenging the Madhya Pradesh's government's use of bulldozers to demolish properties of riot-accused.

BOOM witnessed that many structures in the area have already been demolished by the authorities with the NDMC mayor Raja Iqbal Singh saying that he had not received any information regarding Supreme Court order but would stop the drive as and when any information was received.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation had announced that it would be demolishing "illegal" structures in Jahangirpuri. The announcement came after Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the mayor asking him to identify illegal constructions of "rioters" in Jahangirpuri and demolish them.

NDMC mayor Singh defended the move saying it was a routine exercise.

"The investigation was being done even before the letter (by BJP's Adesh Gupta). The residents of the area had been complaining about the encroachment. We are not targetting anyone. We are only doing what the MCD is supposed to be doing," he said.

The municipal corporation had written to the Delhi Police on Tuesday asking for at least 400 police personnel for the demolition drive.

Jahangirpuri was rocked by violence on Sunday after a Ram Navami rally entered a mosque and allegedly waved saffron flags.

Last week, the Madhya Pradesh government razed at least 45 structures — homes and commercial establishments — belonging to people accused of stoking communal flames resulting in violence during the Ram Navami procession.