In an unprecedented Sunday session, the Allahabad High Court took up a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Association for Protection of Civil Rights, represented by its Vice President for UP East, Sayed Mehfuzur Rehman, challenging the Uttar Pradesh Government's plans to demolish properties belonging to some of those accused in the Bahraich violence case.
In a hearing at 6 PM today, the bench of Justice Attau Rehman Masoodi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi gave a relief of 15 days to the affected individuals to respond to the Demolition Notices issued by the Uttar Pradesh Government. The occupants were earlier ordered to respond to notices that had been pasted on their houses on October 18 within three days.
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Moreover, the Court observed that no notices were mentioned as having been served on the occupants stating which houses constructed on kilometer 38 of the Kundasar-Mahasi-Nanpara-Maharajganj District Road had valid construction permission, as reported by Live Law.
Though the court did not, explicitly have ordered the demolition to be stayed in its order, it observed that it has no reason to believe that the UP Government will not follow the Supreme Court's order on demolitions in letter and spirit.
On October 13- last day for Durga Puja processions, communal violence broke out in the Maharajganj/Mehsi area of Bahraich district when some local members of a particular community raised objections to loud being played. The conflict tragically led to the death of a 22-year-old man named Ram Gopal Mishra.
Of the five arrested in connection with the Bahraich violence, two were injured during an encounter, while the remaining three were taken into custody, according to Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, who also stated that the situation is now under control.
The recent encounter in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, has sparked a heated debate between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition.