Punitive demolitions of Muslims’ properties must stop: Amnesty after Mira Road bulldozer action

Mumbai, NT Bureau: The Indian authorities must immediately stop their discriminatory policy of using demolition drives to target Muslims, Amnesty International India said a day after a civic body in Maharashtra’s Thane district bulldozed 15 structures.

On Tuesday, the civic body in Mira-Bhayandar, a municipality near Mumbai, bulldozed “illegal” structures in the Naya Nagar area of Mira Road where communal violence was reported on Sunday night ahead of the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Following the demolitions, Aakar Patel, the chair of board at Amnesty International India, said that the “impunity with which the Indian authorities have been enforcing their discriminatory de facto policy of arbitrarily and punitively demolishing Muslim properties following episodes of communal violence” was alarming.