Kanpur Dehat Anti-Encroachment Drive: ‘Officials were harassing us since Jan when they demolished our first house’

“Our rivals were regularly pressuring the police and administration to take action against us. A group of people that includes our distant relatives were harassing us following differences with my father. They were lodging false cases against us,” said Shivam, who got married two years ago and has a two-month baby.

He said the family possessed two plots of land, adjacent to each other, in the village for several decades. “We were using it earlier for farming. Around two decades ago, my parents built two houses on those lands and started living there. On January 14, a team of district administration led by the SDM demolished one of the houses without issuing them any prior notice,” said Shivam.

“The team of officials told us that our house was demolished because a resident of the village filed a complaint that it was built on a gram sabha land… On January 14 evening, we visited District Magistrate’s office to raise objections, but no one listened. The next day, a case was filed against eight members of my family, including me and my mother on charges of rioting and others,” he added.

Shivam’s neighbour, Harendra Dwivedi, said that the Dixit family earlier lived in their ancestral house, which is around 300 metres away from the plot where they had built their new house.

“Krishna Gopal’s elder brother, Arvind Dixit, still lives in the ancestral house with his family. Krishna Gopal family has a share in their ancestral house,” added Dwivedi.

Shivam, a graduate, initially helped his father in farming. A few months ago, he started a business of sale and purchase of goats.

The sister was the only member in the family who had completed her post-graduation, while the youngest brother, Ansh, has studied up to class VIII and runs a mobile repairing shop near the village.

“My sister’s marriage was fixed in March. The family was busy making arrangements for the marriage when the district administration officials started harassing us. My sister had planned to study further after marriage,” said Ansh.

“I have lost two of my family members – mother and elder sister. My father is hospitalised. We are going through a deep crisis,” he added.