Dozens detained in India during demolition drive

​​​​​​​By Anadolu Staff

ANKARA (AA)- Dozens of people were detained during a demolition drive “to clear encroachments from government lands” in the western Indian state of Gujarat, officials said Saturday.

A lawyer with the Supreme Court claimed that a 1,000-year-old shrine was among the structures razed.

The administration in the Gir Somnath district said that “religious structures and concrete houses” were demolished during the drive that took place near the Hindu Somnath Temple in the state for which hundreds of police were deployed.

Gir Somnath SP Manoharsinh Jadeja said police detained around 150 people.

Senior civil official Digvijay Singh said, “Due procedures have been followed” during Saturday's demolition drive.

Indian Supreme Court lawyer Anas Tanwir wrote on X that a 1,200-year-old “dargah (shrine), a protected monument, was demolished by the authorities” and the state government defied a Supreme Court order.

The leader of the opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, Amit Chavda, said: “Despite the Supreme Court's ban, the rulers are trying to establish a rule of fear by running bulldozers on religious places and houses.”

“The rulers are violating the Constitution and acting arbitrarily,” he wrote on the social media platform.

India’s top court earlier this month had paused “bulldozer actions,” barring demolition of properties without permission.

The Supreme Court, however, had then clarified that the order would not be applicable to encroachments on public roads, footpaths and railway lines, and the new order would be implemented until Oct. 1.

The direction had come as the court heard a case where petitioners challenged the “bulldozer actions” in several states, where the properties of Muslims and others were targeted.