Houses of five people, including three rape and murder accused, were demolished in Assam's Goalpara district on Sunday for alleged encroachment on government land, officials said.
According to a senior official of the district administration, the occupants had built their houses on government land in Tangabari village under the Dudhnoi revenue circle limits and notices to clear those structures were served to them.
"As they did not comply with the notices to leave the land, the eviction drive was carried out to clear the encroachment," he told PTI.
Of the five people, whose houses were demolished during the day, three were accused of raping two minor girls and being involved in the killing of a youth in a subsequent clash in May, said another official of the Dudhnoi circle office.
"However, the eviction has no relation with the case. The criminal case is being investigated by the police. We carried out the eviction drive only to clear encroachment on government land," he claimed.
Locals, however, claimed that notices were served to the alleged encroachers on Saturday and not 15 days ago as stated by the administration.
Bulldozers were deployed to pull down the concrete houses with tin roofs, amid the presence of a heavy posse of policemen.
The family members were seen taking out their belongings from the houses and loading them in tractor trollies before leaving the area.
On May 3, two minor girls were allegedly raped by three persons. Subsequently, a clash broke out between the people of the girls' village and the accused.
A youth was seriously injured in the clash and he succumbed to his injuries on May 17.
Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah visited the residence of the deceased on Saturday and told reporters that such attacks on indigenous people would not be tolerated.
In a case of demolishing houses of several undertrials, the Assam government had to compensate those who had allegedly set ablaze a police station in Nagaon district for destroying their residences after an order by the Gauhati High Court.
The government had paid Rs 10 lakh each for two 'pucca' houses and Rs 2.5 lakh each for five 'kutcha' dwelling units that were razed to the ground by the administration at Batadrava in Nagaon in May 2022.
In November 2022, then Chief Justice R M Chhaya had pulled up the Assam government over its action and wondered if "tomorrow you need something, you will dig up my courtroom".
The Gauhati high court had then stressed that "bulldozing of a house is not provided under any criminal law" even if an agency is investigating a "very serious matter".
Justice Chhaya had even equated the bulldozing of the houses to an act in a "gang war" and asked the Home Department to find better ways of carrying out its investigation.
The Assam government had, in January 2023, informed the Gauhati High Court that appropriate actions would be taken against erring officials for demolishing houses of the accused persons.
