According to reports, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the eviction of allegedly encroached-upon railway land in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani district, which would have displaced over 4,000 families. The eviction campaign was set to begin on January 8.
A group of petitioners had challenged an order issued by the Uttarakhand High Court on December 20 ordering railway authorities to remove allegedly unauthorized structures from “railway land” in the Haldwani district’s Banbhoolpura area after giving the families a week’s notice.
“न्यायालय के आदेश के हिसाब से कार्रवाई करेगी राज्य सरकार”
हल्द्वानी मामले पर CM धामी का बड़ा बयान#HaldwaniEncroachment #SupremeCourtofIndia #Haldwani pic.twitter.com/pt0FUcoPWu
— News24 (@news24tvchannel) January 5, 2023
On Thursday, a Supreme Court bench comprised of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay Oka asked the Uttarakhand government and Indian Railways to respond to the petition and scheduled the case for hearing on February 7. The High Court’s orders will be on hold until then, according to the judges.
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Protests have been held in recent days against the December 2022 high court order, which was based on a 2013 PIL. This is due to the possibility that the high court order will result in the demolition of schools, temples, banks, mosques, and approximately 4,000 houses deemed to be encroachments on government land.
While prayers, appeals, candle marches, and sit-ins were taking place, railway authorities conducted a survey of the structures (which had accumulated over decades).
Once again #SupremeCourt of India proved that illegal individuals can do anything in India
Bcoz they are their biggest backup#HaldwaniEncroachment pic.twitter.com/H5xLkUbRe9— P K Sharma (@sharmaparimalk) January 5, 2023
The protest, mostly by Muslim women, has been compared to Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2020 and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The protests began in December 2019 and ended in March 2020, only after the Supreme Court intervened, primarily due to the blocking of a road, which caused commuters to face long delays.
The process of issuing notices was supposed to begin on January 1st, New Year’s Day. Residents took to the streets in protest after learning of the court order. Many of them are concerned that the demolition of their tenements will leave them homeless during the winter.
Residents have also accused the BJP government of failing to present their case effectively, owing to the area’s large Muslim population.
