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Bulldozer revenge”: APCR releases reports on “state-sanctioned” violence against Muslims in Rajasthan, MP
Rights defenders, who joined the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) in releasing two reports on “bulldozer justice” in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, condemned the BJP government’s extrajudicial punishments against Muslims, including house demolitions and arbitrary arrests, as part of a dangerous state crackdown on the religious minority.
These reports focus on issues of violence and discriminatory treatment by the BJP governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The reports are titled “State-Sanctioned Mobocracy: How State Machinery Fuels Communal Agendas and Extrajudicial Punishments” and “Bulldozing Dissent: Disproportionate State Crackdown on Muslim Protestors.”
The reports detail incidents in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, where government actions targeted Muslim communities, using extreme measures like bulldozing homes as a form of punishment. The press conference was attended by parliamentarians, human rights advocates, legal experts, former government officials, journalists, and citizens who are concerned about these developments. Professor Manoj K Jha, RJD MP, called for the public to reject “this normalisation of injustice.” He criticised the judiciary for being selective in its approach and urged a change in how these issues are viewed.
Jha said: “The neutrality of polarization and elections has caused a lot of harm and the judiciary has a selective approach. However, I don’t agree that there is a matter of whether the bench is a favourable one or not. The perspective must be changed. Nobody raised their voice when bulldozer reached Kashmir, which has become a tool for campaigning during elections.”
Wajahat Habibullah, a former Chief Information Commissioner, drew a comparison between the current situation in India and the early days of Nazi Germany, warning that the government is blurring the lines between nationalism and patriotism in a dangerous way.
He went on to say: “The inter-community conflicts have been happening for years. Now that there is a policy of proving that 20% of the Indian population does not belong to this country, the bulldozer injustice is being utilized. Their attempts to blur the difference between ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’ are what we can recall went into the making of Nazi Germany. They want to establish Muslims anti-national for vote bank so that others can applaud this action.”
Social activist Harsh Mander discussed the history of using bulldozers as a tool of oppression. He warned that the current government’s actions are turning the state itself into a mob that targets specific communities.
“We will remember the second term of Narendra Modi with lynchings but this third term we don’t need a lynch mob. The government itself is in the form of a mob targeting a particular community. There is no district left in Madhya Pradesh where no such state-sponsored bulldozer action has been taken. I am yet to find a collector in Madhya Pradesh who can say that I will not abide by this unconstitutional process,” Mander said.
Bhasha Singh, an independent journalist, criticised the media for supporting “bulldozer justice” and not holding the government accountable. She pointed out that the courts have also been silent on this issue, which is deeply concerning.
Singh said: “The government is also running a bulldozer on history. There are no reports of the attacks in India. Bulldozer injustice is an image of the fascist regime. The Courts are at their place but they remain silent on bulldozer justice…the word “injustice” must be pasted in outrage everywhere we see bulldozer action.”
Rights defenders, who joined the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) in releasing two reports on "bulldozer justice" in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, condemned the BJP government's extrajudicial punishments against Muslims, including house demolitions and arbitrary arrests, as part...
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