Bulldozer action: What is it, who started it & why SC frowned at the method

Heavy-duty machinery is used to demolish houses of alleged criminals and rioters.

The Supreme Court on Monday disapproved of the “bulldozer justice” meted out by certain states in criminal cases. The top court said the law does not permit the destruction of the family shelters of even convicts.

“How can anybody’s home be demolished because he is an accused in a case? The law does not permit that… Can it happen even if a person is a convict?” a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Viswanathan said.

The SC bench proposed to lay down certain guidelines on a pan-India basis on the issue of demolition. It posted the matter for hearing on September 17.

“Bulldozer action”, popularly known as “bulldozer justice”, is a euphemism for instant retributive action against alleged criminals by the state administration. Heavy-duty machinery is used to demolish houses of alleged criminals and rioters. As part of the action, houses, shops and small establishments across India have been bulldozed.

After chief minister Yogi Adityanath assumed power in 2017, he issued a warning about using bulldozers against those involved in crime. “My government will bulldoze houses of anyone even thinking of perpetuating crime against women and weaker sections of the society,” the CM had said. The action also earned him the nickname “bulldozer baba”. According to reports, the Yogi regime procured over 67,000 acres of government land from the land mafia. The Yogi administration also razed properties, including those linked to gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.

Many states, including Madhya Pradesh, followed in the footsteps of Uttar Pradesh. It earned then MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan the moniker of “bulldozer mama”. Among Mohan Yadav’s first actions as MP CM was issuing the order for an “intensive campaign” to curb “illegal buying and selling of meat, fish…”.

Some other states which adopted the action are Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Assam, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. During the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also mentioned the “bulldozer action”. "If SP and Congress come to power, Ram Lalla will be in a tent again and they will run a bulldozer on Ram temple. They should take tuition from Yogi ji, where to run a bulldozer and where you shouldn't," PM Modi said at a rally in UP’s Barabanki.

In 2022, Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered authorities to demolish 16 houses and 29 shops across four locations in Khargone following communal clashes. In the same year, seven bulldozers, on orders of the BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation, razed parts of several structures, including the exterior gate of a place of worship in North West Delhi’s Jahangirpuri.

In August 2023, days after the communal violence in Haryana's Nuh, which claimed the lives of six people, the state administration razed over 200 illegal shanties housing immigrants.

Last month, officials in Rajasthan's Udaipur demolished the “illegally” constructed house of a boy accused of stabbing a classmate. The Udaipur district administration carried out the demolition after allowing the accused's family to remove their belongings.

The practice has been criticised by some, with activists questioning how the action can be taken even before allegations against a person are proved. Also, some say why the administration must punish the whole family for the crime of one. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the "bulldozer action" in BJP-ruled states "inhumane and unjust". “The anti-constitutional face of the BJP, which has crushed humanity and justice under the bulldozer, has now been exposed in front of the country,” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the social media platform X.

After the top court’s observation on Monday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the “bulldozer of justice” has finally been set in motion.