Authored by Aziz Umar, Editorial Head of FairLex.

Imagine someone coming to your community's place of worship or school and telling you to pack up everything you own in less than twenty-four hours. They tell you that if you do not leave, your building will be destroyed. This is not a made-up story; it is exactly what recently happened in the Barmer district of Rajasthan.

Local government authorities in the Gadra Road tehsil area of Barmer gave sudden eviction notices to six mosques and madrasas. The notices ordered them to leave the land immediately or explain why they should not be removed within just one single day. The civil rights group, the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), pointed out a very unfair detail: the notices were dated June 11, but they were secretly delivered on the evening of June 17. The people running these institutions were told they had to appear at the government office on June 18. This gave them less than one day to find a lawyer, gather their important papers, and fight back to save their buildings. The APCR rightfully argued that this action completely goes against basic fairness and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality, the right to life, and the freedom of religion under Articles 14, 21, 25, and 26.

In recent years, we have been seeing a very scary trend in India that people call "bulldozer justice". This happens when government officials decide someone has done something wrong, and instead of taking them to a real court, they just bring a bulldozer and destroy their building. This is a massive abuse of power. The "rule of law" means that everyone must be treated fairly and equally by the legal system. No one can be punished unless a proper judge in a proper court looks at the evidence and says they are guilty. When local government officials try to act like the police, the judge, and the punisher all at the same time, they break a very important democratic rule called the "Separation of Powers". The government's job is to run the city, but only the courts have the power to punish people.

Thankfully, the highest court in India has recently taken a very strong stand against this unfairness. In a major recent case named In Re: Directions in the matter of demolition of structures, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 295 of 2022 (2024 INSC 866), the Supreme Court of India clearly said that bulldozer justice is illegal. Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan stated that the government cannot demolish a citizen's house just because they are accused of a crime. The judges said that seeing a bulldozer destroy a building without a fair legal hearing reminds them of a "lawless state of affairs" where the strongest person wins. They declared that this type of extreme, bullying action has absolutely no place in a country that follows the Constitution.

The right to have a roof over your head is protected by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the "Right to Life". The Supreme Court has talked about this in several famous judgments. For example, in the landmark case of Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, (1985) 3 SCC 545, the court decided that the right to life is not just about breathing and staying alive; it also includes the right to earn a living and have a place to stay. You cannot just throw people out onto the street without hearing their side of the story. Later, in the case of Chameli Singh v. State of U.P., (1996) 2 SCC 549, the Supreme Court made this even clearer. The court ruled that the right to shelter is a basic human right. A home gives a person safety, dignity, and a place to grow.

In the recent In Re: Directions (2024 INSC 866) case, the Supreme Court added that demolishing a building punishes everyone who uses it. If one person makes a mistake, you cannot destroy a whole building where innocent family members or community members go. The court called this "collective punishment," and stated clearly that our laws completely forbid it. Even if a building was built illegally, the government must still follow the strict, step-by-step legal procedure before knocking it down. In another very important case, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai & Ors. v. M/S Sunbeam High Tech Developers Private Ltd. (Civil Appeal No. 7627 of 2019), the Supreme Court ruled that the exercise of demolition powers must be absolutely fair and transparent. That case highlighted an older but very famous rule from Sopan Maruti Thopte and Another vs. Pune Municipal Corporation and Another (AIR 1996 Bom 304), which made it clear that a person must be given at least 15 days' time to reply to a demolition notice.

To stop these unfair bulldozers, the Supreme Court created a simple, strict list of rules in the In Re: Directions (2024 INSC 866) judgment that every local government must follow. First, the government cannot just show up and tell people to leave. They must give a written notice at least 15 days before any demolition happens. This 15-day period starts from the exact day the person actually receives the notice, not the day the letter was typed. The notice must clearly explain exactly what rules the building is breaking and tell the person when they can come to a government office for a "personal hearing" to explain their side of the story.

To stop officials from cheating and backdating letters, like what happened in Barmer, the Supreme Court said officials must immediately email the District Magistrate when a notice is given, and the system must generate an automatic reply as proof. Furthermore, all these notices and orders must be uploaded to an online public digital portal so everyone can see them clearly. Even after the government listens to the owner and makes a final written decision to demolish, they must wait another 15 days. This gives the owner time to remove the illegal part themselves or go to a higher court to ask a judge for help. Finally, the Supreme Court made a strict rule to punish bad officials. The judges warned that if any government official breaks these new rules, they will be charged with "contempt of court," meaning they are guilty of disobeying the highest court in the country. Even worse for them, the official might have to pay to rebuild the destroyed property out of their own personal pocket.

When we look at the Barmer eviction notices using these simple laws, it is very easy to see that the local officials broke almost all of the Supreme Court's rules. You cannot give a backdated notice and expect people to vacate a mosque or a madrasa in one single day. The civil rights group APCR is completely right to demand that these evictions be paused immediately. If the Barmer administration truly believes there is an issue with the land, they must follow the law. They must give a proper 15-day notice, allow the mosque and madrasa committees to speak in a fair hearing, and let the courts do their job. In a true democracy, the law must be fair, clear, and equal for everyone. The era of surprise, overnight evictions must end so that the rule of law can finally win over the bulldozer

The views are personal.