How Modi’s BJP turned bulldozers into a ‘deadly weapon’ against Muslim homes in India
Victims urge the Supreme Court to stop Muslim-owned properties being arbitrarily razed under the guise of removing ‘illegal’ structures
On August 17, authorities demolished the one-storey house of autorickshaw driver Rashid Khan in Udaipur, northern Rajasthan state, which he was renting to two families.
He received only a few hours’ notice that the structure, deemed illegally built on forest land, would be destroyed.
Khan, who filed a petition with the apex court last month seeking compensation, believes his home was targeted due to a violent incident involving a Muslim tenant’s son, who was accused of stabbing a Hindu student to death on August 16.
“I strongly believe they demolished my house because of the August 16 incident,” he told This Week in Asia.
Khan is among a growing number of Muslims facing the brunt of the bulldozers, which have become “tools of oppression” in India, according to human rights activist Harsh Mander.