NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Saturday alleged that some state governments were adopting Israel-like policies and imposing a "bulldozer culture" to target Dalits and Muslims by demolishing their homes over "petty" allegations.
In a statement, AIMPLB's general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani claimed that in several cities, houses of Muslim and Dalits have been demolished.
He alleged that the Centre and some state governments are adapting Israel-like policies in the country by imposing the bulldozer culture "which is objectionable and shameful act for the country".
The image of India is of a democratic country where every citizen has the right to protest peacefully and freedom of speech, but in the recent past, governments' attitude has been changing to "dictatorship", Rahmani alleged.
A person works profusely for ages and builds his or her house, and not just that person, in many cases, his or her parents, children and sisters and brothers live together, Rahmani pointed out.
"There is joint ownership of the family. Now if any major or minor boy of the home joined stone pelting agitation in any sense would it be right for the government to give a sentence for the crime of an individual to the entire family, old parents, innocent children," he asked.
"Suppose there are 50 houses of Muslims and Dalits and none of them have taken permission to build their houses, but precisely few of them have been targeted and demolished as they were involved in stone pelting as claimed by the police. Is this the correct course of law?" Rahmani said.
The governments are themselves filing complaints and giving judgements, he alleged.
If the government is really serious about illegal construction then it should give a chance to people by regularising their houses by payment of fines and imposing strict laws for new construction, he said.