Punjab And Haryana High Court Refers Nuh Demolitions Case To Chief Justice

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court division bench of Justice Arun Palli and Justice Jagmohan Bansal on Friday directed that the Nuh demolitions case be placed before the chief justice.

The Bench also made it clear that the matter should have been listed before the first division Bench as per the High Court rules. The first division Bench is headed by the chief justice, who has not been holding the court for the past few days.

For the record, the matter had come up before the bench of justice G S Sandhawalia and justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan on August 7, last, who observed that the state of Haryana was demolishing buildings on account of the fact that some riots had occurred in Gurugram and Nuh without following the procedure established by law. The bench had also observed that the issue also arose whether the buildings belonging to a particular community were being brought down under the guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ``ethnic cleansing’’ was being conducted by the state.

However, as per the standard procedure, the bench that takes suo motu cognisance of a matter refers it to the chief justice for placing it before an appropriate bench in accordance with the roster.

However, the additional advocate-general Deepak Sabherwal told the Bench that it was not a case of ``ethnic cleansing’’ and a proper procedure as prescribed under the law had been adopted while carrying out the demolition drive in Nuh and Gurugram. He also sought additional time for filing a detailed reply.

The matter will now be placed before the chief justice on August 18, 2023.

Curfew further relaxed in Nuh

The curfew was further relaxed in Nuh – from 7 am till 3 pm - the schools and other education institutes reopened on Friday after remaining closed due to communal clashes since July 31.

Yatra now on Aug 28?

Meanwhile, even as the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang have planned to resume the Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra on August 28, it has been decided not to include ``notorious’’ cow vigilantes and women in the procession.

It may be recalled that communal clashes had erupted in Nuh on July 31 after the religious procession taken out by VHP-Bajrang Dal was reportedly attacked by mobs. The clash reportedly erupted in the communally sensitive Nuh after cow vigilante Monu Manesar, one of the main accused in the recent infamous case of the brutal killing of Nasir-Junaid in Bhiwani (Haryana), announced to join the said religious procession. Though Monu did not take part in the procession, another cow vigilante allegedly provoked the rival groups which had objected to Monu’s taking part in the procession.

The clashes left six dead, dozens people including many police personnel grievously hurt and causing massive damage to public and private properties in Nuh and adjoining areas.