The Supreme Court will on September 2 take up the legality of authorities using bulldozers to demolish houses belonging to people accused of crime, with two fresh applications moved on Friday seeking urgent listing.

The bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Viswanathan, before which the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing, said the latest applications would be heard alongside three earlier pleas.

These pleas had been moved in 2022 by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, CPM leader Brinda Karat and a fruit vendor after buildings in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area were bulldozed following communal clashes during a Hanuman Jayanti procession.

The houses of people accused of criminality have over the past few years been demolished, often without court orders, in various parts of India — mostly by BJP-led state or civic authorities, with Muslims allegedly being the commonest victims.

Advocate C.U. Singh, appearing for an aggrieved client from Madhya Pradesh, had on Friday sought urgent listing of the application, saying: “…On same day when one of the
family members was arrested, the ancestral home was demolished…. without any notice.”

Another advocate, Fouzia Shakeel, made a similar request on behalf of another aggrieved person: “...The house of a person in Udaipur was demolished because his tenant’s son was accused in a criminal case. He is personally aggrieved, and has also filed an application.”

The earlier three applications had alleged that the Jahangirpuri demolitions were carried out without prior notice, and despite the apex court directing status quo and staying the removal of encroachments until further orders. They had requested a stay on all such demolition drives across the country.

Hearing these applications on April 21, 2022, the apex court had warned that it would take a “serious view” of authorities carrying on demolitions in Jahangirpuri despite its stay order having been communicated to the Delhi mayor and others.

The bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Gavai had at the time, however, declined a blanket stay on demolitions across the country amid reports of
such activity coming in from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The court had issued notices to the Centre and the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had at the time alleged that organisations like the Jamiat were spreading a false narrative. He said the affected people were not coming forward since they knew the structures had been demolished under a Delhi High Court order of
2021 directing the removal of encroachments.