Another incident of houses belonging to Muslim men being demolished in BJP-governed Madhya Pradesh over allegations of cow slaughter has come to light on Thursday in Morena district. The district administration deemed the houses “completely illegal” and “built without permission”.
The incident is in response to a complaint filed by a villager named Anipal Gurjar. He reported witnessing the slaughter and getting attacked when he opposed it.
Based on the complaint, the police raided a house in the Bengali colony of Noorabad village and allegedly found beef, cow skin, and two sacks of bones and beef. Nine individuals have subsequently been charged under the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Cow Slaughtering Act, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code related to rioting, assault, and intimidation.
The stringent National Security Act (NSA) has also been invoked. So far, six people have been arrested, while three remain at large.
Authorities are conducting a search operation across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to arrest the suspects who are reportedly not natives of the Morena district but had settled there for work. Following the incident, local officials conducted a survey of the accused’s village, resulting in the demolition of the houses belonging to two accused individuals and the foundations of a third house.
Revenue officials claim that the demolished houses were ‘illegal’ and built without necessary permissions.
The local gram panchayat had previously issued notices regarding the illegal constructions, and after a final notice on June 22 went unheeded, the decision was made to demolish the structures.
Ironically, while numerous structures, which include houses, apartments, political party offices, and religious sites, can be found all across the state that have been built on illegally occupied land or without permission, the authorities always tend to choose houses of Muslim community members.
