After the bulldozer: Indian Muslims grapple with loss amid demolished homes
Al Jazeera
From death to the loss of relationships, India’s wave of bulldozer demolitions leaves a long-lingering trail of despair.
New Delhi, India – Shahid Malik is fighting for a home that no longer exists.
For the past two years, Malik, an accountant by profession, has been working with a local lawyer to seek justice for the demolition of his house and more than two dozen others in Kharak Riwara Satbari, a neighbourhood in southwest Delhi.
In October 2022, the Delhi Development Authority, a body responsible for urban planning, construction of housing and commercial projects, and land management in the Indian capital, tore down the houses without any prior survey or notice after losing litigation for control over the land to a private builder.
The cases Malik has filed – one on behalf of the Resident Welfare Association and another for his own home – still await a hearing. “The hearing is being continuously deferred to another date and we haven’t even had a chance to present our grievances. How long must we wait?” he asks.
But Malik has lost a lot more than just his home. Malik’s son Ziyan was born with cardiovascular complications two months before the house was demolished. His condition “got worse after we were pushed out in the cold”, Malik recounts, pointing towards the rubble of his demolished home.
