Meet the 8-year-old girl who ran with books during demolition in UP, caught Supreme Court’s attention

“There is a recent video in which small huts are being demolished by bulldozers. There is a small girl running away from the demolished hut with a clutch of books in her hand. It has shocked everyone,” Justice Bhuyan observed.

“I returned from school and kept my bag in the chappar (thatched shed), where my mother had tied the animals. (During the demolition), there was a fire in the chappar next to ours, and I immediately thought of my schoolbag and books. My mother tried to stop me, but I broke free and ran,” Ananya, a Class 1 student at the Government Primary School, Arai, told The Indian Express.

“I was afraid my books and bag would get burnt. I went back to my mother afterwards,” she said, adding that she was apprehensive she wouldn’t get a replacement from school.

Speaking to The Indian Express, her grandfather, Ram Milan Yadav (70), claimed the administration had come to demolish structures on about “two biswa” of land, which their family has occupied for “50 years”.

He said that while he and his sons were explaining that a case was being heard in the tehsil court, one of the thatched sheds caught fire during the demolition exercise.

“Woh video dekh ke bahut neta log aa rahe hain. Kuch samajh mein nahi aa raha (many politicians have visited us since the video went viral; we don’t understand what’s happening),” said Ananya’s father Abhishek, a labourer who insisted he does not want trouble.

Ram Milan Yadav added, “It was not a big deal until people started approaching us about the video. All we know is that we will continue to fight for our land.”

The video was shared by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, while the Congress sent a delegation to meet the family. But officials involved in the demolition say neither any residential accommodation nor the shade where Ananya’s bag was kept were touched.

“We served Ram Milan a notice two months ago to clear the encroached land. When we went to clear it, they started protesting. We do not know how one of the thatched structures caught fire, but it was brought under control. Later, one of the structures was demolished, but it was all non-residential,” said Pawan Jaiswal, sub-divisional magistrate, Jalalpur.

Asked about the viral video, Jaiswal said, “The structure where the girl ran from was not even touched. It was at a distance from the structure which caught fire.”

He said an FIR has been lodged against “fake” videos linking the girl with the demolition.