Rajasthan govt ‘hell-bent’: High Court stays demolition of homes of accused in Beawar blackmail-rape case

However, “the respondents are hell-bent to demolish their construction without taking a decision on their response,” the court said.

The Rajasthan government through the Local Self Government department, the Additional Chief Secretary for Home Department, the Beawar District Collector, the Superintendent of Police, and the Bijaynagar Municipality have been made a party to the case. Additional Advocate General G S Gill and Manoj Kumar appeared on their behalf.

Ali said he told the court: “All those who have been made an accused are arrested and that notices have been pasted on their homes. But the homes do not belong to the accused but to their grandfather, father, uncle, etc. Not a single home is owned by the accused. So that was our argument, that these properties don’t belong to the accused and so they cannot be demolished.”

His second argument was that the local municipality did not follow the November 2024 guidelines set by the Supreme Court, wherein the court gave 10-15 instructions, “but not a single point was followed,” Ali said.

The families of the accused were served notices under Section 194 (provisions relating to erection of all kinds of buildings) and 245 (encroachment or obstruction upon public land) of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009. The notices, “in reference to the administrative inquiry”, had asked the families to produce the complete ownership documents, records, approved map of the house/building, etc.

Listing the matter for March 11, the court said that till the next date, “the status quo qua the subject property shall be maintained by the parties.”

Since late last month, the town in Rajasthan’s Beawar district has been swept up in communal tension, with a growing web of charges leading to the arrest of 11 members of the Muslim community for allegedly exploiting Hindu girls.

The VHP has got involved, Governor Haribhau Bagde has suggested the girls were targeted as they are “associated with a Hindu organisation”, the families of the accused and the local Jama Masjid have got “encroachment” notices, and a town with a mixed population of one lakh that lived largely in peace has been battling apprehensions of violence.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan government has instituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sexual assault allegations. Ajmer Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Om Prakash said the team will have three officers, including a woman.

“It’s a serious issue and is being dealt with by the government on priority,” he said, adding that the SIT has been given seven days to submit a report.