The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday in oral form before the Supreme Court agreed to put demolition action on temporary halt in violence-hit Bahraich.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K.M. Nataraj, appearing on behalf of the state government, agreed before a bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai that district authorities will not take any coercive action till Wednesday.
The bench, which also includes Justice K.V. Viswanathan, agreed to take up the applications filed against the proposed demolitions on Wednesday and meanwhile asked the authorities to defer the bulldozer action.
"If they want to take the risk of flouting our order, it's their choice," it cautioned the state authorities.
Last week, PWD had painted a few houses with red marks, including the one of key accused Sarfaraz and others suspected of being involved in the murder of Ram Gopal Mishra.
The decision to mark houses in red comes nearly a week after communal violence shook the town's Maharajganj and is being looked at as a precursor to bulldozer action. Marking of homes had ignited widespread fear and anxiety among the locals, especially those whose houses have been branded.
On 13th October, severe argument between two groups erupted during the Durga idol immersion procession which soon took the shape of a communal flare-up and violent clashes. Shootings by the other community members killed 22-year-old man Ram Gopal Mishra at Maharajganj area in Mansoor village of Bahraich. Extremely widespread demonstrations and protests followed.
The apex court, in an interim order passed on September 17, directed that no demolition will take place anywhere across the country except without its permission after several petitions were filed before the apex court alleging that bulldozer action was taken by various state authorities without sufficient notice.
However, the apex court clarifies that its "order would not be applicable if there is an unauthorised structure in any public place such as road, street, footpath, abutting railway line or any river body or water bodies and also to cases where there is an order for demolition made by a court".
Recently, the Supreme Court refused to pass any stay quo order in relation to demolitions being carried out near the famous Somnath temple but gave a strongly worded message to Gujarat authorities. It said that if demolitions were carried out in the teeth of its September 17 order, it would not hesitate to "send authorities to jail and ask them to restore the position as it was". "If we find them contemptuous of our order, not only will we send them to jail but ask them to restore the position as it was. We have made clear in the court that if they are in contempt, we will pass a status quo ante order," the SC said.
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