India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—Bulldozers have again struck terror in Uttar Pradesh. After two people died in Kanpur, the UP government resumed the demolition drive in Prayagraj.
This time the target was not the title holders of the land or owners of the houses but a landlord who had rented out his house to politician Atiq Ahmad’s wife, Shaista Parveen.
The authorities demolished a two-storey house in Prayagraj where Shaista Parveen used to live on rent.
Prayagraj Development Authority bulldozers drove into Chakia locality and started demolishing the house, which Zafar Ahmad Khan owned. The house, valued around ₹2.5 crores, was already vacant.
“The house was illegally constructed in violation of set norms and is therefore being demolished. However, notice was issued to the owner, and all the required process was followed,” said PDA vice-chairman Arvind Kumar Chauhan.
Khan Saulat Hanif, Zafar’s counsel, however, said that the house was bought in 2021 legally.
“Right in front of the house, the house of the parents of Shaista Parveen is located. After the demolition of Atiq Ahmad’s house. Shaista took it on rent and started living there since 2021. Even an electricity connection was sanctioned in the name of Parveen here,” Hanif said in a video message.
Parveen, along with her husband and son, is named as an accused in the murder of advocate Umesh Pal. He was murdered outside his residence in Prayagraj last week. Two police bodyguards also died in the incident.
Police said Parveen and her son were absconding.
Umesh Pal was the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal. Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azeem, alongside close aides, are the prime accused in the case.
Earlier, police shot a 24-year-old man Mohammad Arbaaz in a controversial encounter in Nehru Park. Police said Arbaaz allowed Umesh Pal’s assailants to flee after the crime.
PDA, along with police, arrived with five bulldozers and heavy equipment in Chakia and brought down the front boundary wall of the house.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the leader of the opposition’s pictures has gone viral on social media.
“There were two ways to deal with a problem – the first being to face the same while the other is to run away from it,” he said, indicating that the opposition leader preferred to stay away instead of facing the situation.
“Yesterday, I saw that a picture of Prayagraj’s incident accused is going viral. Of course, people will say it is an era of social media, but (in the picture) there is a logo of your (SP) party, you (Akhilesh) can be seen shaking hands, but still, you are denying it,” he said.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav said: “Law and order have completely collapsed. They are unable to catch the culprits, and only bulldozers are moving around. As a result, innocents are being traumatized.”
On BJP’s charge that Atiq Ahmad was a product of the Samajwadi Party, Yadav added, “I have information that he (Atiq) enjoyed the patronage of the ruling party leaders for the last one year.”
In January, Parveen joined the BSP and announced that she was named as the party’s mayoral candidate from Prayagraj. But after Umesh Pal’s murder, party chief Mayawati said she would expel Parveen if she was found guilty.
UP government’s controversial demolition drive has claimed two lives so far, and hundreds have become homeless. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Centre a day after a mother-daughter duo died during an anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur Dehat.
Forty-four-year-old woman Pramila Dixit and her 21-year-old daughter Neha were burnt alive after a thatched house caught fire when the police and administration teams were conducting a demolition drive. The villagers alleged the two were trapped inside and died in the blaze.
“When the pride of power takes away people’s right to live, it is called dictatorship. I am deeply disturbed by the incident in Kanpur. This ‘bulldozer policy’ has become the face of the government’s cruelty. India does not accept this,” Gandhi tweeted.
Police have booked 39 people, including a sub-divisional magistrate, four revenue officials, a police station head, and several other police personnel on murder and other charges.
