New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) Over two weeks after clashes near a shrine in a south Delhi neighbourhood in Jor Bagh area left at least 25 people injured, some residents Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking eviction of encroachers from public land.
The residents of B.K. Dutt Colony through a public interest litigation said that some people had encroached public land in their colony in the name of performing religious works and had resorted to violence against them.
On Jan 15, at least 25 people, including a woman and some police officers, were injured in clashes between police and Muslim devotees who wanted to enter a shrine allegedly built on public land.
The petition said that the residents of the colony were living in fear but police had not been able to protect them.
“During these times most of the residents of the colony live in the fear of their lives and women and children do not venture out of their houses,” the petition submitted.
The residents alleged that outsiders had created a vicious communal atmosphere with an overwhelming show and threat of physical force so as to force all residents of the colony indoors.
Police have not only failed to protect the residents of the colony but have actively collaborated with outsiders in their attempt to grab public land.
Residents alleged that there were continuous attempts to intimidate colony residents to accept the illegal claims of the outsiders.
“The outsiders have also attempted to intimidate the residents of the colony by foisting false cases on them and using police to threaten and/or harass them into accepting the illegal demands of the outsiders,” the petition submitted.
The plea will next come for hearing Wednesday.
