Bulldozers at Shaheen Bagh, stir pauses demolition drive
NEW DELHI: Protests erupted at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh on Monday with hundreds of people, including women, opposing an anti-encroachment drive of the SDMC as bulldozers rolled into the area in the presence of a huge number of police personnel, even as the civic body team was forced to return without carrying out the exercise.
Following the protests, the SDMC officials returned with the bulldozers, an official said.
The protesters raised slogans against the BJP- ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as well as the Centre and demanded that the action be stopped. Some of the women protesters even stood in front of the bulldozers to prevent the exercise.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea filed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) against the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh, saying it cannot interfere in the matter at the instance of a political party.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai asked the Left party to approach the Delhi High Court instead.
“Why is the CPI(M) filing a petition? What is the fundamental right that is being violated? Not at the behest of political parties. This is not the platform. You go to the high court,” the bench said.
Earlier in the day, leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress reached the spot and staged a dharna.
The protests caused traffic snarls at Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj, Jaitpur, Sarita Vihar and Mathura Road, among other places. In December 2019, Shaheen Bagh was the epicentre of protests and sit- ins against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The sit-in was called off in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the city.
Last month, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) carried out an anti-encroachment drive in the Jahangirpuri area, which witnessed violence between two communities on April 16. The action drew widespread criticism and the Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the drive.