23 hours Ago By Firstpost
In the middle of a demolition drive in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar, eight-year-old Ananya Yadav found herself running from the rubble, clutching onto her most prized possession—her schoolbooks. Her small shanty, along with several others, was bulldozed in 2021 by the Prayagraj civic authorities, who believed the land belonged to the gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was killed in 2023 in a police encounter. At the time, the little girl had no idea that a video of her running with her schoolbag would catch the attention of the country’s top court.
During a hearing on Tuesday, a Bench of Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan referenced the viral clip, and called the demolition drive “illegal” and “insensitive”. UP Govt bulldozer demolishing a house A poor girl runs out holding her books to save herself & her books! No better PR video for Modi G’s Beti Bachao Beti Padaho pic.twitter.
com/Kq4YojhOVz “There is a recent video in which small huts are being demolished by bulldozers. There is a small girl running away from the demolished hut with a clutch of books in her hand. It has shocked everyone,” Justice Bhuyan remarked, criticising the Uttar Pradesh government and the civic authorities.
Here’s a closer look at little Ananya’s story. On March 21, the Prayagraj civic authorities carried out a demolition drive in Jalalpur, Ambedkar Nagar, to clear alleged encroachments on village land, PTI reported. Eight-year-old Ananya Yadav, upon hearing about the demolition, rushed to grab her schoolbag, which held her Hindi, English, and “ginti ki” (maths) books.
She believes these prized possesions will help her achieve her dream of becoming an “IAS adhikari” and “protecting the country.” “I returned from school and kept my bag in the chappar (thatched shed), where my mother had tied the animals. (During the demolition), there was a fire in the chappar next to ours, and I immediately thought of my schoolbag and books.
My mother tried to stop me, but I broke free and ran,” Ananya, a Class 1 student at the Government Primary School, Arai, told The Indian Express. Her grandfather, 70-year-old Ram Milan Yadav, claimed that the authorities came to demolish structures on around “two biswa” of land, which their family has occupied for nearly 50 years. Police officials, however, stated that the demolition was carried out based on an ejection order issued by the Jalalpur tehsildar court, as the land was classified as government property.
Ananya’s father, Abhishek, a daily wage labourer, told the publication that ever since the video of his daughter running with her schoolbag went viral, several politicians have visited their family. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav shared the clip, while a Congress delegation also met with them. However, officials involved in the demolition claim that no residential structures were affected, nor was the shed where Ananya’s bag was kept.
उप्र के अम्बेडकर नगर में एक प्रशासनिक अधिकारी अपनी शान दिखाने के लिए लोगों की झोपड़ियां गिरा रहा है और एक बच्ची अपनी किताबें बचाने के लिए भागने पर मजबूर है। ये वही भाजपाई लोग हैं, जो कहते हैं : बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ! pic.twitter.com/eSTJKvZZKD “We served Ram Milan a notice two months ago to clear the encroached land.
When we went to clear it, they started protesting. We do not know how one of the thatched structures caught fire, but it was brought under control. Later, one of the structures was demolished, but it was all non-residential,” Pawan Jaiswal, sub-divisional magistrate of Jalalpur, told _The Indian Express.
_ Also read: ‘ How can house be demolished’: What is ‘bulldozer justice’ that Supreme Court has come down on? As the case reached the Supreme Court, a bench comprising Justice AS Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan strongly criticised the Uttar Pradesh government and Prayagraj Development Authority for the demolition of homes, raising serious concerns about the manner in which such actions were being carried out in the state, India Today reported. The court pointed out that no proper notice had been given before the demolitions, highlighting that not even a 24-hour notice was served to the affected residents. “These cases shock our conscience.
It is an unfortunate state of affairs where there is illegal demolition, and the persons affected do not have the capacity to reconstruct their homes. Residential premises have been high-handedly demolished without due process,” the court observed. The hearing was based on a plea filed by advocate Zulfiqar Haider, Professor Ali Ahmed, and others, whose homes were demolished in the drive.
The appellants had initially approached the Allahabad High Court for relief after their houses were torn down on March 7, 2021, without proper legal procedure. However, when their plea was rejected, they moved the Supreme Court for justice. During the hearing, they informed the court that they lacked the financial resources to rebuild their homes, to which the court remarked, “Only because they don’t have money, they are suffering.
” Acknowledging their situation, the court allowed them to construct temporary shelters while their appeals were pending but also stressed that the state must provide fair compensation. “We will record this whole thing as illegal, and we will say that as far as rights in the land are concerned, we are not offering any comment,” Justice Oka stated. He further added, “And fix compensation of 10 lakhs in each case.
That is the only way to do this. So that this authority will always remember to follow due process.” With input from agencies.
