– Pervez Bari
Bhopal, Jan. 17: How ‘Bulldozer Justice’, in the name of instant justice, being practiced by several State governments in even petty criminal cases is ruining families, is beyond one’s comprehension. Without giving any chance to the accused to explain his side or verifying the facts of the case, his house is bulldozed in a hurry even though he may not be the owner of it. Generally, for one person’s crime the whole family is penalised for no fault of theirs.
The latest example of this came to light when the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court released on bail an 18-year-old Muslim teenager of Ujjain who had been in custody for 151 days for allegedly spitting on a Hindu ‘Mahakal’ procession after the complainant and the eye witness turned hostile.
The ruling came in a bail application filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The applicant, Adnan Mansoori had been in jail since 17.07.2023 in connection with a criminal case for commission of offences punishable under Sections 295-A, 153-A, 296, 505 and 34 of IPC.
Justice Anil Verma observed, “Considering all the facts and circumstances of the case, arguments advanced by counsel for the parties, nature and gravity of allegation as also taking note of the fact that complainant Sawan Lot has been examined before the Trial Court but he turned hostile and did not support the case of prosecution and even he has also denied his relevant portion of his FIR (Ex. P-1), eye- witness Ajay Khatri also turned hostile and not supported the case of the prosecution.”
“No T.I. parade has been conducted by the investigating officer, investigation is over and charge sheet has been filed, applicant is not having any criminal background, in view of the above, I deem it proper to release the applicant on bail,” Justice Verma held.
According to the prosecution’s account, on the evening of July 17, 2023, a Hindu procession was underway in Ujjain, when the complainant and his friends joined the procession. As the procession reached Tanki Square, unidentified individuals on the terrace of a building along the route allegedly began spitting on the procession vehicle. Subsequently, the complainant reported the incident to the police, leading to the registration of a case against the accused under the aforesaid sections.
The counsel for the applicant had contended that the applicant was innocent and was being falsely implicated in the matter. Further, the counsel submitted that the applicant was a permanent resident of Ujjain, and a final conclusion of the trial was likely to take a sufficiently long time. Thus, under the above circumstances, the prayer for the grant of bail was requested to be considered on such terms and conditions.
Contrarily, the Government Advocate asserted that the applicant had been identified in the CCTV footage. He contended that it was a serious case concerning communal harmony, and consequently, the applicant was not deemed eligible for bail.
The Court, however, without commenting on the merits of the case, allowed the application, and directed, “the applicant be released on bail upon his furnishing a personal bond….”
Meanwhile, three people, including two minors, both aged 15 years, were also arrested by the MP police on July 17, 2023, over the allegations of spitting water on Mahakal ki Sawari that passed by their house.
The minors were granted bail in September 2023 by the MP High Court after the juvenile court denied them bail on two occasions. The HC, while granting the two minors bail, found fault on the part of the justice board. It held that the board “committed jurisdictional error and illegality” in passing the orders.
An FIR was registered and the arrests were made based on the complaint of Sawan Lot, 28, from Indore who had joined the procession alongside his friends. The statement of Lot’s friend, Ajay Khatri, was also recorded.
Lot had accused Adnan and the two other minors of spitting on the religious procession. “This incident has offended my religious sentiments and those of the entire community,” Lot was quoted as saying in the FIR, adding he had submitted two videos of the incident to back his claim.
However, the MP police only spoke about one video in the charge-sheet, where a minor was seen spitting on the procession from the rooftop of a three-storey building. Advocate Devendra Sengar, who appeared for Adnan Mansoori, reportedly said the MP police failed to present the video in court.
Witness deny incident
Five months later, during a deposition at the court, Lot and Khatri denied witnessing the incident. In a written statement to the judicial magistrate, Lot claimed that he was misquoted by the police who asked him to sign some papers and did so without telling why.
Lot stated that they learned of the spitting incident after the MP police picked them up. “I don’t know what was written in the FIR,” said Lot in his statement, adding that he was misquoted on several instances by the police in the FIR. Lot also denied being acquainted with Mausam Jaiswal, the person who shot the video of the alleged incident.
The other witness, Ajay Khatri, said he was taken to the police station alongside 40-50 others and was called to the first floor of the police station after an hour where he was asked to sign some papers, which he did without the knowledge of what was written thereon. He also said he didn’t witness the incident and neither could he identify the accused and that the police had misquoted him.
Accused house bulldozed
Following their arrest, a three-storey building, belonging to Ashraf Hussain Mansoori, father of the two accused, was demolished by the MP authorities in Ujjain amidst the beating of drums and loud cheers by a group of people who had arrived to witness the demolition.
However, a backdated notice was pasted on the ground floor of the building half an hour before the police and administration arrived with a bulldozer to demolish the “dangerous structure”. Thereby the Mansooris, and a dozen other men, women and children, who had been residing in the building for years, were rendered homeless.
The small shop on the ground floor of the building, the only means of livelihood for the family was also demolished. The family, who has been living in a rented house for the last five months, recently restarted the business with minimal repairs.
