Mumbai, May 11 The Bombay High Court has expressed shock over the manner in which a printing press set up by Dr B R Ambedkar in Mumbai was demolished in 2016 and rapped the city police for failing to act despite complaints against the move.
A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata, in the order passed on April 30, directed the Mumbai police commissioner to file his personal affidavit on the issue.
It was rare that demolition was carried out post-midnight, the court noted in the order, a copy of which was made available on Monday. The HC also sought an affidavit from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner explaining whether demolitions at such hours are a normal practice in the city.
The order was passed on a bunch of petitions, including one filed by Prakash Ambedkar, the leader of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and grandson of B R Ambedkar. The petitions had raised concerns over the "illegal" demolition of the historic Buddha Bhushan printing press at Dadar in central Mumbai in June 2016.
As per the pleas, Dr B R Ambedkar had in 1930 purchased two plots of land with his own funds in Dadar. In 1945, he created a trust on one piece of land and constructed the printing press. The second plot had two buildings - Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhawan and Yashodhara Sanganak Kendra.
The trustees had certain disputes and under the garb of a false structural audit report, six of them, who were named as accused by the petitioners, instigated the BMC to issue a notice stating that the printing press building was in a dilapidated condition, the pleas claimed.
In June 2016, the accused trustees came to the printing press building along with a mob of over 400 persons to demolish the structure.
When Prakash Ambedkar's brother Anand rushed to the Bhoiwada police station, urging them to stop the illegal demolition, the police refused to act, pursuant to which the Buddha Bhushan printing press was demolished, the pleas alleged.
They also claimed that during the illegal demolition, machines purchased by Dr B R Ambedkar, preserved documents in his handwriting and the "Panchshil Flag" were also damaged.
An FIR was later registered against the trustees on a complaint by Prakash Ambedkar, but he, in his petition, claimed that no proper investigation was being carried out.
The high court, in its order, expressed shock at the affidavit submitted by the assistant commissioner of police denying the allegations, terming them as vague and baseless.
"It is deeply disturbing to read such a thoughtless affidavit. We are constrained to express our shock at the audacity and the manner in which the police responded to the complaints. It is rare, if not unprecedented, for the BMC or any authority to carry out demolition between 12 am and 7 am," the bench said.
It pulled up the police for failing to promptly proceed to the site and halt what appears to have been an illegal demolition, and said there was an evident inaction on the part of the police.
The court ordered the city police commissioner to file a detailed affidavit in response to the petitions and to also disclose the names of the officers who were on duty at the Bhoiwada police station when the incident occurred.
It also impleaded the BMC commissioner and directed an affidavit to be filed stating whether permission for demolition was taken and if it was granted.
"The BMC commissioner shall also state where demolitions were carried out or permitted to be carried out by the civic body in Mumbai between midnight and 6 am or was this an isolated case where such a thing has occurred," the HC said.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on June 15.
