On Thursday (8th February), incidents of stone pelting and arson transpired in the Haldwani area of Uttarakhand. The Muslim mob attacked authorities who went there to raze a madrasa built on illegally encroached government land near the Banbhoolpura police station under the ongoing drive against illegal encroachments.
The stone pelting by the rioting mob on Thursday left several persons dead and over 100 police personnel were injured. The violent mob surrounded the Banbhoolpura police station and set vehicles stationed there ablaze. The mob also attacked Haldwani Municipal Corporation workers including SDM. To bring the law and order under control, the local administration imposed a curfew and issued shoot-at-sight orders in Haldwani.
The Municipal Corporation team in Haldwani, Uttarakhand had arrived to demolish an illegal structure located in Malik’s garden under the Banbhoolpura area. Officials said they had sent a notice to the management of the madrasa-mosque informing them that the structure was illegally built near the Banbhulpura police station. The madrasa management could not provide any documents to prove that the structure was not illegally constructed. The Corporation had also previously seized three acres of land near the demolished site. A plea challenging the Municipal Corporation’s notice was heard by the Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday. The vacation bench of Justice Pankaj Purohit did not grant relief in the matter following which the authorities initiated the demolition exercise.
#WATCH | Haldwani violence | DM Nainital, Vandana Singh says, "…After the HC's order action has been taken against encroachment at various places in Haldwani…Everyone was given notice and time for hearing…Some did approach the HC some were given time while some were not… pic.twitter.com/pO1K4BjN9C
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2024
The authorities have stated that the encroachment removal process has been completely legal and in compliance of court orders. They also stated that the process has been going on at multiple sites after serving notices and giving ample opportunities to the c concerned parties to bring objections or prove their ownership of the sites.
Haldwani Railway land encroachment case
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Haldwani has been engulfed in protests and violence over government action against illegal encroachments. In January last year, a massive protest had erupted in Haldwani over the issue of the removal of encroachment from the land owned by the Indian Railways.
The protests started after Uttarakhand High Court, on December 26, 2022, ordered the authorities to immediately evict the illegal encroachers which comprise nearly 4000 families to vacate the land belonging to the Indian Railways. The protesters (mostly Muslims) claimed that the clearance of encroachments would affect a large number of women, children, and elderly persons residing in the area. The usual players including AltNews’s Mohammad Zubair, and Amnesty India among others jumped in to support the illegal encroachers against the court-directed action to remove encroachments from the railway land in Banbhoolpura city.
While illegal encroachers were not ready to leave the Railway land, the Railways department had said that the encroachment is impeding growth and expansion efforts. Several requests for increasing railway tracks in the region, according to the railway officials, were previously submitted to the government but were thwarted due to encroachment. A proposal to build pit lines was received a few years ago, however it was shelved owing to a shortage of area caused by encroachment.
However, on 5th January 2023, the Supreme Court bench comprising SK Kaul and AS Oka stayed the removal of illegal encroachments and also barred any construction or development on the land until the matter is resolved. The apex court ruled that a workable arrangement has to be devised. The SC bench gave its decision while hearing multiple petitions contesting the Uttarakhand High Court ruling that mandated the removal of unlawful encroachments on railway land in Haldwani.
The Supreme Court had issued notifications to the Uttarakhand government and the Railways in the case, urging them to find a realistic solution before proceeding with the eviction.
As reported earlier, while the Supreme Court agreed that the land belongs to Indian Railways and is needed for the development and expansion of railway infrastructure, the court stated in its judgement that the government must give full rehabilitation to the eligible residents of the area.
While putting a stay on the matter, the Supreme Court said that 50,000 persons cannot be relocated in seven days. Justice SK Kaul stated that there are numerous parts to the issue, that people have been living on the land for years, and that there are establishments.
Interestingly, the Supreme Court had taken a different approach in the matter of illegal encroachments on forest land in Khori Gaon, a village at the foothills of the eco-sensitive Aravallis in Haryana’s Faridabad. On 7th June 2021, the Supreme Court had ordered the removal of illegal encroachments within six weeks while hearing a plea seeking a stay on the demolition of 10,000 houses in the area. The apex court back then observed that “no compromise can be made with forest lands.” Days later, the top court also upheld its decision to clear the illegal encroachments on forest lands and evict 100,000 people from the encroached forest land.
Notably, despite the Supreme Court agreeing that the encroached land in Haldwani belongs to the Railways Department, the matter is getting dragged with the illegal encroachers, that is nearly 4000 families still occupying the Railways land. On 7th February 2023, the apex court granted the Indian Railways authorities and Uttarakhand government eight weeks’ time to work out a solution in relation to the rehabilitation of the people who were asked to vacate the encroachments from railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area. A bench consisting of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Manoj Misra granted eight weeks to Railway authorities and Uttarakhand at the plea of Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati. The matter will be heard on 2nd May.
Whether it’s encroaching on railway land or rioting over the demolition of an illegal madarsa-mosque, Islamists are never willing to follow the law. They want things to go their way or they will resort to violence and use all of the propaganda machinery at their disposal to gain sympathy and support.
Nainital DM Vandana Singh, while addressing the media about the violence on 8th February, stated the anti-encroachment drive was neither targeted at one particular structure or one particular community, but has been going on as per due process in a multiphased manner. However, on Thursday, 8th February 2024, government officials and police personnel were attacked by the locals. Stones were pelted, petrol bombs were thrown, and there were attempts to burn the personnel alive by setting fire.
Illegal encroachment menace in Uttarakhand
The menace of illegal encroachments on government properties is not limited to Banbhoolpura or Haldwani but is rampant across Uttarakhand. In December last year, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said that his government has freed 5000 acres of land encroached through Land Jihad. As reported earlier, CM Dhami had directed the state police and forest department to identify all illegal constructions. The authorities identified a total of 3,793 such areas until May 2023. The Nainital district had the highest number of encroachments, with around 1,433, followed by the Haridwar district, which had 1,149. Other districts with a large number of illegal structures are Tehri (209), Almora (192), and Champawat (97). The great majority of these encroachments were on forest land.
In May 2023, the state authorities had demolished over 330 Mazars in 90 days. Earlier in March 2023, the Uttarakhand government rolled bulldozers over illegal mazars which were built by encroachment on the reserved forest land.
