“The (bulldozers) directly attacked our house. We weren’t given any notice. Nothing,” mentioned Hasina Bi, a 56-year-old widow who was at her house in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh when it was focused and demolished in April 2022 by the municipal authorities.

In all 5 states, Amnesty International discovered that the demolitions — typically carried out beneath the guise of remedying unlawful development and encroachment — had been enacted with out following any of the due course of safeguards outlined in home regulation or worldwide human rights regulation. State authorities enforced the demolitions and evictions with out providing any prior session, enough discover, or various resettlement alternatives. The destruction of buildings typically came about at evening, with occupants given little or no time to go away their houses and outlets, salvage their belongings, or attraction the demolition orders and search authorized redress.

Such demolitions represent compelled evictions, that are prohibited beneath worldwide human rights regulation and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which India is a state occasion.

‘They beat up my husband’

A 60-year-old girl whose home was demolished in Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh, mentioned: “When we asked what our fault was, they beat up my husband with lathis (batons). I was yelling that my disabled son is inside, but they did not stop… I could have lost them both.”

Amnesty International documented at the least 39 circumstances of the police resorting to illegal drive whereas finishing up demolitions or stopping victims from amassing their belongings. At least 14 residents mentioned they had been overwhelmed by the police for presenting their official paperwork and asking why their houses had been being demolished. The police hurled abuses at residents, kicked open doorways, and dragged individuals out of their houses earlier than beating them with lathis [batons]. Both women and men had been restrained and held in police automobiles.

The use of drive by the police was neither essential nor proportionate. This illegal use of drive constitutes a human rights violation and has additionally resulted in a variety of different violations together with the residents’ proper to enough housing in addition to their rights to bodily integrity, freedom from merciless, inhuman, or degrading therapy, and efficient treatment, that are enshrined in each the Indian structure and worldwide human rights regulation.