{"id":7226,"date":"2026-02-25T21:37:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/?p=7226"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:37:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:07:44","slug":"bengaluru-demolition-row-court-summons-top-ias-and-ips-officers-over-illegal-bulldozing-of-300-homes-in-poor-colony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/?p=7226","title":{"rendered":"Bengaluru Demolition Row: Court Summons Top IAS and IPS Officers Over \u2018Illegal\u2019 Bulldozing of 300 Homes in Poor Colony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Criminal court questions midnight demolition that left families homeless without notice, seeks explanation from top bureaucrats and police chief<\/span><\/h2>\n

BENGALURU \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Two months after bulldozers rolled into Fakir Colony in the dead of night, razing nearly 300 shanties and forcing poor families onto the streets, a criminal court has now stepped in. On December 20, 2025, around 4 am, earthmovers accompanied by a heavy police contingent entered the Kogilu Slum Layout, cut power to the area, and began flattening homes while residents were still inside.<\/p>\n

No prior notice was served, residents say. Now, the VII ACJM court in Bengaluru has sought detailed reports from senior IAS and IPS officers, including the city police commissioner and the chief commissioner of the Bangalore Greater Bangalore Authority (GBA), directing them to explain their role in the demolition.<\/p>\n

The case marks a rare attempt to fix administrative accountability at the highest levels over an eviction drive that critics say violated Supreme Court guidelines and basic human rights.<\/p>\n

\u2018No warning, no notice\u2019: Families describe early morning trauma<\/h2>\n

Advocate Sudha Katwa, one of the legal activists who visited the site hours after the demolition, described scenes of chaos and despair. \u201cThere was no notice, no warning. Women and children were pushed out of their homes before sunrise. People showed us their Aadhaar cards, ration cards and voter IDs. Still, their houses were demolished,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Residents claimed they were woken by the sound of engines and shouting. Power had been cut hours earlier. Families said they were not allowed to gather belongings, and many alleged they were physically manhandled, rounded up, and detained in police vehicles while their homes were reduced to rubble.<\/p>\n

The complaint filed before the court invokes several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including those relating to voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation, and lurking house trespass.<\/p>\n

Beyond the legal provisions, the human cost has been severe. \u201cChildren are still without stable housing, food or access to school. On paper, there may be statements. On the ground, nothing has changed,\u201d Katwa added.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Senior officers named in private criminal complaint<\/h2>\n

In an unusual move, advocates Umapathi, T. Narasimhamurthy, and Sudha Katwa filed a private complaint before the Bengaluru court, naming five senior officials:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n

    Maheshwar Rao M<\/strong>, Chief Commissioner of GBA and Administrator<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Pommala Sunil Kumar<\/strong>, Commissioner of Bengaluru North City Corporation<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Karigowda<\/strong>, CEO of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Jagadish<\/strong>, Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban District<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Seemant Kumar Singh<\/strong>, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Advocate Umapathi told the court that the complaint was maintainable even though the petitioners were not personally affected. \u201cWe clarified that criminal law can be set in motion by anyone. A crime is against society, not just against an individual,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

    The court accepted the complaint, ordered verification and registration of the case, and directed the concerned officials to submit their reports. The matter is scheduled for further proceedings in March.<\/p>\n

    \u2018Nothing of this scale happens without senior consent\u2019<\/h2>\n

    Umapathi stressed that executive officers cannot evade responsibility. \u201cThe legislature frames policy. It is the executive that implements it. Nothing of this scale can happen without the knowledge and consent of senior officials. That is why they have been named,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

    The complaint also refers to guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in W.P. (Civil) No. 295 of 2022 regarding demolition of structures, arguing that mandatory procedures \u2014 including prior notice and due process for slum dwellers \u2014 were completely ignored.<\/p>\n

    Advocate T. Narasimhamurthy pointed to an interim report sent by the State Human Rights Commission to the Chief Secretary. \u201cThere were responses from officials, but when we visited the site, nothing had moved. Interim directions were not reflected on the ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

    He questioned who gave the final order for the demolition, noting that no official written order has been produced. \u201cThat will become clear when the court summons the five officers and seeks their explanation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

    Referring to the scale of police deployment, he added: \u201cSending hundreds of personnel before sunrise and cutting power the previous day shows a complete lack of humane consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    What the petition seeks<\/h2>\n

    The complaint seeks a direction to the Yelahanka Police Station to register a First Information Report (FIR) under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and to prosecute the accused officers under relevant BNS sections. It also calls for institutional accountability at higher levels, explicitly stating that action should not be limited to field-level staff.<\/p>\n

    For the displaced families of Kogilu, the court proceedings now represent their only hope. \u201cWhen administrators fail, the court becomes the place where the poor can seek justice,\u201d Narasimhamurthy said.<\/p>\n

    As the March hearing approaches, residents wait to see whether the law will address what they describe as a night of fear, loss, and lasting hardship \u2014 and whether senior officials will finally be held accountable for the bulldozers that erased an entire colony before sunrise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    <\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Criminal court questions midnight demolition that left families homeless without notice, seeks explanation from top bureaucrats and police chief BENGALURU \u2013\u00a0Two months after bulldozers rolled into Fakir Colony in the dead of night, razing nearly 300 shanties and forcing poor families onto the streets, a criminal court has now stepped in. On December 20, 2025, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bengaluru"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":108,"today_views":0},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7230,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226\/revisions\/7230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianow.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}