NEW DELHI: Veteran leader P Chidambaram on Friday hit out at his own party’s government in Karnataka after home minsiter G Parameshwara’s called for demolition of structures constructed using money from drug peddling in the state.In a social media post on X, Chidambaram said that Congress is against “bulldozer justice” and asked the Karnataka government not to go on the “illegal path” opposing the Supreme Court’s view on demolition of houses.”I am alarmed by the reported statement of Karnataka’s home minister that bulldozers may be used to demolish the homes of drug peddlers. I hope the report is wrong. The SC has declared the law: demolishing homes without due process of law is illegal and will violate the fundamental and human rights of other members of the family to a shelter,” former Union minister said.”Besides, the Congress Party’s view is that ‘bulldozer justice’ as practised in UP is wrong, illegal and unjust. Let not a Congress-governed state like Karnataka go down the illegal path of UP,” he added.This comes after G Parameshwar, in the state legislative council, said that the government will demolish the structures constructed using money from drug peddling.Responding to Congress MLC K Abdul Jabbar’s question on the growing drug menace in Bengaluru, Davangere and coastal districts, the home minister detailed the extensive enforcement measures initiated since the Congress government assumed office. “Many foreign students from African countries have come to Karnataka. They are into the drug business. We catch them and register cases against them, but they want the case to be registered because once the case is registered, we cannot deport them.”In the November 2024 Supreme Court order, which was referred to by Chidambaram, the two judge bench headed by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai, upholding the principle of innocence until proven guilty, found demolition of a house on the ground that one person residing in such a house is either an accused or convicted in the crime, amounts to inflicting a collective punishment on the entire family or the families residing in such structure.”In our considered view, our constitutional scheme and the criminal jurisprudence would never permit the same,” the apex court said.The apex court directed that no demolition should be carried out without a prior show-cause notice, returnable either in accordance with the time provided by the local municipal laws or within 15 days from the date of service of such notice, whichever is later.
