Nainital violence: Uttarakhand HC stays raze notice sent to rape accused

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand HC Friday pulled up the Nainital district administration, police and municipal council for dispatching an encroachment notice to 73-year-old Mohd Usman — the man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl, reports of which led to largescale arson and violence in the hill station on Thursday — and stopped officials from razing his house after his 60-yearold wife approached the court.

HC not only stayed the notice but directed authorities to issue an unconditional apology. Nainital Municipal Council admitted in court that SC’s guidelines on demolitions were not duly followed while serving the notice to the accused.
The notice had said that Usman’s house was built on municipal council/forest land and that if documents were not shown “within three days”, it would be demolished.
Challenging the encroachment papers in HC, Usman’s wife Husan Begum said SC directives clearly mention that a 15-day notice must be given before removing “illegal structures”.
However, the municipality only provided 3 days’ time despite the fact that the accused was already in jail.
Begum’s lawyer said Usman had been living in the area for 20 years, and municipality never issued any encroachment notice. “Even I am being threatened because I am representing Usman’s wife. This has never happened in my career,” the lawyer said.
While hearing the matter, division bench of Chief Justice G Narender and Justice Ravindra Maithani said, “We are issuing contempt and taking the matter seriously. You (municipal council) cannot violate SC order; it was not passed aeons ago SC is clear (on matter of demolition).”
The court expressed displeasure over protests in Nainital following the arrest of the accused and reprimanded police.
“Your (police officers) incompetence leads to problems, and you want to cover it up. The shops belonged to everybody… why were they ransacked? It would not have happened had the police been vigilant. What action was taken against the arsonists? We want answers.”
HC noted that during the violence that followed after Usman’s arrest, cops were seen “just moving around” instead of calming the mob. Senior officers and administration officials were not present for significant time, it noted.