After the bulldozers: Indian Muslims grapple with loss amid demolished homes. Religion

New Delhi, India – Shahid Malik is fighting for a house that no longer exists.

For the past two years, Malik, an accountant by profession, has been working with a local lawyer to get justice for the demolition of his house and that of more than two dozen others in Satbari, Kharak Rivada in southwest Delhi.

In October 2022, the Delhi Development Authority, the body responsible for urban planning, construction of housing and commercial projects, and land management in the Indian capital, demolished houses without any prior survey or notice after losing a lawsuit for control over the land. A private builder.

The cases filed by Malik – one on behalf of the Resident Welfare Association and another for his own house – are still awaiting hearing. “The hearing is being postponed for the second consecutive date and we have not even got a chance to present our grievances. How long do we have to wait?” he asks.

But Malik lost more than just his home. Malik’s son Zayan was born with heart complications two months before the house was demolished. “His condition became worse after we were pushed out into the cold,” Malik says, pointing to the debris of his collapsed house.

As the infant continued crying for hours, Malik took him to a doctor the same evening their house was demolished. For the next six days, Ziyan was transferred from one hospital to another and eventually put on a ventilator in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

On a cool October morning, the parents noticed that Ziyan’s body had turned blue as he was having difficulty breathing. Then, he is no more. For the family, his death was a direct result of their home being demolished.

“The doctors told us that exposure to the dust had made it even more difficult for him to breathe,” says Malik.

“My wife and I still shudder with pain whenever we think of Gian. We were never given any notice, the authorities took away both our house and our son from us.

‘Bulldozer Justice’

Like Malik, hundreds of Indian Muslims have seen their homes demolished in recent years without any notice, and in many cases without any legal documentation to justify the demolition of the homes in which generations of families grew up. Grew, lived and dreamed of the future.

Often, city officials cite urban development, beautification drives or clearing “illegal encroachments”. However, in many cases, including in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the demolitions are publicly touted by governments as punitive measures against activists and their critics. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has earned the sobriquet Bulldozer Baba (Daddy Bulldozer), while former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has gained popularity as Bulldozer Mama (Uncle Bulldozer). Their victims have often been disproportionately Muslim.

“Claims of ‘unauthorized construction’ are disproportionate and repeatedly single out a community in particular,” says Najmus Saqib, a lawyer who works with the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, a civil rights advocacy group. “In such a scenario, it is difficult for us to convince the community to trust the judicial institutions. There is an atmosphere of despair everywhere.”

In June 2022, authorities in the Uttar Pradesh city of Prayagraj – formerly known as Allahabad – demolished the house of activist and community leader Javed Mohammed. He was charged under the National Security Act and termed the “mastermind” of the violence that broke out in Prayagraj that month following then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad.

Irony? “Prayagraj Development Authority, the organization that oversaw the demolition, has itself failed to produce the approved map of the building that houses its office,” Saqib told Al Jazeera. The Prayagraj development body did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions on the allegations of highhandedness against it.

But the impact of these destructions lasts for a long time. Families are forced to start life afresh in makeshift tents, in a new neighborhood or in a distant city. Already limited access to health care, nutrition, safety and sanitation, as well as irregular access to water and electricity in these new locations, have further compounded their struggle.

‘Can we get our old lives back?’

Salma Bano’s house was also included among the 1600 houses on which bulldozers were run in Akbar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh in June 2024. More than 1,000 Muslim families were evicted from the Kukrail Riverfront Development Project in Lucknow. Saplings were planted on their demolished houses to create forests.

“Our entire neighborhood was surrounded by bulldozers and within a few hours everything turned to dust. “We had nothing to eat for the next two-three days,” says Bano. “Now that we are in this new house, we still have to think every day about how much we eat because we have There is not enough income. I have five children. How will I feed them when my home and my world are destroyed?”

The displaced families have been shifted to Vasant Kunj, about 15 km (9 mi) from their old locality. Lucknow urban development authorities did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on criticism of the demolition.

“I am constantly worried that my children will not get a proper education. His school was very close to our old house. Now we cannot afford their school fees or school bus,” says Bano.

The family will have to pay the government in installments for the house allotted. “Everyday essentials here are much more expensive than in Akbar Nagar. “Inflation is eating us alive,” says Bano. “I think our future is completely ruined.”

Her husband Mohammad Ishaq says that the family has been torn apart by the demolition. Earlier his parents and brother lived with him.

“But there is no room for them in this small new flat. I also lost my job and had to take a loan to buy an auto rickshaw so that I could earn a living. I don’t know how long I can continue like this,” he says. “Can we get our old lives back?”

relief and shock

In a recent judgment, the Supreme Court of India declared that government officials cannot demolish any property of people accused of a crime without following due legal process. The judgment also underlined that the property owner must be given advance notice to challenge or respond to the order.

The decision is “a huge relief”, says Kumar Sambhav, founder of Land Conflict Watch, a data-research project that analyzes ongoing land conflicts in India.

But the court’s decision only addresses punitive demolitions. “Houses built on public land have been exempted from this order and this vague distinction may continue to target the minority community,” Sambhav warned. “In the absence of right to housing, landless and homeless people of the country live in public places. Their homes will always be considered encroachment.”

Mental health experts say these demolitions also have a psychological impact.

“There is an irreparable sense of displacement,” Zulekha Shakur Rajni, a Bangalore-based psychologist, tells Al Jazeera. “Individual trauma is being compounded by collective trauma and this is adversely impacting the mental health of many Muslims across the country.

“People feel abandoned due to lack of support and their sense of reality is gradually being distorted because they are no longer safe in their homes.”

Lack of support can create a feeling of isolation.

Community leader Javed Mohammed was in jail when his house was demolished in Prayagraj on June 12, 2022. He wanted to ensure that his wife and daughters, Afreen Fatima and Sumaiya Fatima, were safe.

“But many people who were close to us were reluctant to help. They were scared,” says Mohammed. “I think they were afraid that if they helped us, their houses might be arbitrarily bulldozed. I can understand this because what happened to us was illegal and arbitrary. At that time we felt very lonely.

After months of struggle, the family found a rented house in Prayagraj, but the landlord was often harassed by the local police for sheltering them. And Mohammed’s poor social relationships have still not recovered more than two years later.

He says, “I was quite famous in my city and I had a lot of interactions with many individuals and organizations, but after this incident they are all scared.” “Many people I used to see almost every day Was, he no longer meets me or talks to me on phone calls. My social life is no longer the same. I still feel alone.”

a permanent disaster

Analysts say repeated incidents of bulldozer vandalism serve as a form of psychological warfare against India’s Muslims.

“For any healing to begin, the violence must stop. We are now seeing a rise in cases of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, where repeated flashbacks, ruminative thoughts and nightmares make it even more difficult for people to come out of their loss,” explains Rajini.

In Nuh, a town in the northern Indian state of Haryana, authorities bulldozed more than 1,000 Muslim homes, huts and small businesses in August 2023, in violence against the community following a provocative and armed Hindu supremacist procession passing through Muslim neighborhoods. Was accused of participating. ,

Saddam Ali (name changed to protect identity) lost his home and medical store. “We didn’t know this was going to happen. While I am trying to build my home again, I am unable to see my son sinking into depression. He is now dependent on anti-depressants,” Ali told Al Jazeera.

“The pain of losing everything he had worked so hard to do within minutes before his eyes was too much for him to bear.”