‘Bulldozer justice’ like bulldozing Constitution, negation of rule of law: Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of Supreme Court

Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said on March 22 that demolishing the properties of people suspected of a crime is equivalent to running a bulldozer over the Constitution of India.

Justice Bhuyan said that this practice of demolishing the houses of the accused and then defending the action by calling the structures illegal, is both ‘disturbing’ and ‘depressing.’

"According to me, using a bulldozer to demolish a property is like running a bulldozer over the Constitution. It is a negation of the very concept of rule of law and if not checked, would destroy the very edifice of our justice delivery system," Justice Bhuyan was quoted as saying by legal news website Bar and Bench.

Referred to as 'bulldozer justice,' the trend of using bulldozers to demolish houses of those who have protested and have been accused of rioting often without following process established by law originated in Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government in 2017.

In November last year, the Supreme Court called the ‘bulldozer justice’ simply unacceptable under rule of law,

Justice Bhuyan was speaking at 13th Justice PN Bhagwati International Moot Court Competition on Human Rights at Bharati Vidyapeeth New Law College Pune, Maharashtra.

Nagpur Violence: Fadnavis threatens of bulldozer action

Incidentally, the same day and in the same state, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis threatened that a bulldozer would roll if necessary when asked if perpetrators of Nagpur violence would face the "Uttar Pradesh style" action.

“The Maharashtra government has its own style of working....bulldozer will roll when necessary,” Fadnavis said, replying to a media query on March 22.

Violence erupted in central Nagpur on Monday, with stones hurled at police amid rumours that the sacred text of a community was burnt during an agitation by a right-wing body demanding the removal of the 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.

"In that house, all right, we assume that this person may be an accused or he may be a convict, but his mother stays there, his sister stays there, his wife stays there, his children stay there. What is their fault?" Justice Bhuyan asked.

Before moving to the Supreme Court as a judge in 2023, Justice Bhuyan served as Chief Justice of Telangana High Court since June 2022. He was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on 17 October 2011.

“If you demolish that house, where will they go? It is right taking away the shelter over their heads, I would add, why only them? What about the accused? What about the convict? Just because somebody is an accused in an offence or a convict, that doesn't mean that his house should be demolished,” Justice Bhuyan said in the address.

(With inputs from Bar and Bench)