Victims of India’s “bulldozer justice” are turning to the Supreme Court in hopes of stopping the growing use of heavy machinery to raze homes and businesses owned by Muslims, as critics accuse states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party of striking fear into the minority community.
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On August 17, authorities demolished the one-storey house of autorickshaw driver Rashid Khan in Udaipur, northern Rajasthan state, which he was renting to two families.
He received only a few hours’ notice that the structure, deemed illegally built on forest land, would be destroyed.
Khan, who filed a petition with the apex court last month seeking compensation, believes his home was targeted due to a violent incident involving a Muslim tenant’s son, who was accused of stabbing a Hindu student to death on August 16.
“I strongly believe they demolished my house because of the August 16 incident,” he told This Week in Asia.