Civic authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) demolished the house of Welfare Party of India (WPI) General Secretary and prominent activist Javed Mohammed on Sunday, claiming that it was an “illegal construction”. The authorities also alleged that Javed was one of the “key conspirators” of the violence that erupted in the city over the blasphemous remarks made against the Prophet Muhammad by a BJP leader, which has infuriated Muslims across the world.
There are no clauses in Indian law to demolish the home of anyone accused of a ‘crime’, however, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has often observed this illegal demolition drive in its ruling states across the country to punish the accused, mostly Muslims.
While many have hailed this trialless act of retribution, others, however, have condemned the demolition drive, calling it “undemocratic and oppressive.”
The Prayagraj Development Authority on Sunday had asked Javed’s family to vacate the house by 11 am. The authority claimed that it had given a show-cause notice to Javed, on May 10, directing him to appear for a hearing before it on May 24 but he allegedly did not comply.
However, Javed’s family has denied the claims, saying that they did not receive any notice about the alleged illegality of their house.
Speaking to The Cognate, Javed’s son Mohammed Umam said, “The house belonged to our mother Parveen Fatima. It was in her name. How can they demolish it just like that? The order did not even mention her name.”
“We have all the legal documents that the house was in my mother’s name. We have regularly paid tax and done all the formalities,” Umam said.
On Saturday, Javed’s daughter Afreen Fatima claimed that the Prayagraj Police had detained her father without a warrant or prior notice.
Fatima is a student activist and national secretary of the Fraternity Movement, a student wing of the Welfare party of India.
In a video, Fatima said that the police came to her house again and took away her elderly mother, who is diabetic and her 19-year-old sister at 12:00 am to the police station.
After some time, at around 2 am on Saturday, all the members of the family were asked to go along with them. When the family disagreed as there was no warrant signalling the arrest, the cops asked them to vacate the house and lock it, according to a complaint by Afreen Fatima to the National Women’s Commission.
The arrest took place after protests in Uttar Pradesh demanding the arrest of BJP leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, who made inflammatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
Umam alleged that one of the male officers also abused his mother during the interrogation. “A male officer used abusive language against my mother. How can they use such language? How can they even arrest women at midnight?”
There is a basic procedure to be followed during the arrest of a woman, under Section 46 of the Criminal Procedure code 1973, and Section 46(4) (amended under Section 6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2005. According to Section 46(4), out of the ordinary circumstances, “no women shall be arrested after sunset and before sunrise”. However, in such exceptional circumstances, “the woman police officer should obtain a written prior permission of a first-class Judicial Magistrate within whose local jurisdiction the offence is committed or the arrest is to be made.”
Meanwhile, on Sunday, a group of lawyers moved the Allahabad High Court, arguing that the “demolition was illegal” and in fact belonged to Parveen Fatima, wife of Javed Mohammad.”
In a letter to the chief justice, Roy and other lawyers argued that the house was registered under the name of Parveen Fatima.
“Any attempt by the District and Police Administration and the Development Authority to demolish that house will be against the basic principle of law and a grave injustice to Javed Mohammed’s wife and children,” the letter stated.
The letter also stated that his family had not received any show-cause notice as has been mentioned in the demolition orders.
“The house was a gift from her [Parveen Fatima] father. Under the Muslim Personal Law, when a woman gets the property, it does not automatically belong to her husband. The notice that the government has issued is against Javed Mohammad, but the property does not belong to him,” Roy told Scroll.in.
During the demolition drive, the Uttar Pradesh police has claimed to have found “illegal weapons” in Mohammad’s house. However, his son has denied the claims saying, “My dad had one gun which was licensed. I’m not sure if they found it or not. But he did not possess any illegal arms.”
“Nobody will tell you that they found Gita, Bible and the Quran from our house. But they say they found weapons and other things, which is untrue,” he told The Cognate.
Describing the night of his father’s arrest, 30-year-old Umam said, “On Saturday, my father did not go anywhere, he was at home the whole day. When the police came, he had gone to offer namaz to a nearby mosque to offer namaz. He had no role in the protests. In fact, dad asked everyone to maintain peace and order. He has been framed in this.
“My father has always been very close to the administration and abided by laws. He has never done anything illegal.”
Meanwhile, more than 400 people have been arrested so far in a clampdown on those involved in the protests on Friday in several states, with authorities in Uttar Pradesh demolishing alleged “illegal” houses of the accused, PTI reported.
Among those arrested, 304 alone belonged from eight districts in Uttar Pradesh and as many as 100 in West Bengal’s Howrah and Murshidabad districts.
Jharkhand police have registered 25 FIRs against “thousands” of people for the violence where two people were killed and scores of others were injured in Ranchi, including a senior police officer who was also hurt, according to reports.
Two teenagers, Mudasir, 14, and Sahil Ansari, 19, were killed in police firing during the protests.
Meanwhile, authorities have strengthened security and clamped prohibitory orders in several districts after the clashes that took place following Friday prayers, demanding the arrest of Sharma and Jindal.
While both the BJP functionaries were removed from the party after facing a huge backlash from several Muslim nations, many cases and court complaints have been filed against them and few others in connection to the cases of allegedly hurting religious sentiments in various parts of the country.
