Assam government demolishes houses of rape suspects and others Goalpara | News from India

Of the five people whose houses were demolished during the day, three were accused of raping two minor girls and being involved in the murder of a youth in a subsequent clash in May, another official from the Dudhnoi district office said. “However, the eviction has nothing to do with the case. The case is being investigated by the police. We have carried out the eviction drive only to remove the encroachments on government land,” he claimed.

However, locals claimed that the suspected encroachers were notified on Saturday and not 15 days ago as the administration claimed. Bulldozers were used to demolish the concrete houses with tin roofs in the presence of a large police presence.

Family members were seen removing their belongings from their homes and loading them onto tractor carts before leaving the area.

On May 3, two minor girls were allegedly raped by three men. Subsequently, clashes broke out between the residents of the girls’ village and the accused. One youth was seriously injured in the clashes and succumbed to his injuries on May 17.

Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah visited the deceased’s residence on Saturday and told reporters that such attacks on the tribal population would not be tolerated.

In a case involving the destruction of the houses of several pretrial detainees, the Government of Assam had to compensate those who allegedly set fire to a police station in Nagaon district for destroying their houses on the orders of the Gauhati High Court.

The government had paid Rs 1 million each for two ‘pucca’ houses and Rs 2.5 million each for five ‘kutcha’ housing units, which were razed to the ground by the administration at Batadrava in Nagaon in May 2022.

In November 2022, then Chief Justice RM Chhaya had reprimanded the Assam government for its actions, asking if they “need anything tomorrow, then they will dig up my courtroom”.

The Gauhati High Court had stressed at the time that “no penal law provides for the demolition of a house”, even if an authority is investigating a “very serious case”.

Judge Chhaya had even equated the destruction of the houses with an act of “gang war” and asked the Home Ministry to find better ways to conduct its investigations.
The Assam government had informed the Gauhati High Court in January 2023 that appropriate action would be taken against errant officials who had demolished the houses of the accused.