Supreme Court Rules Against Collective Punishment In Property Demolitions
NDTV
The bench noted that the construction of a house has an aspect of socio-economic rights and for an average citizen it is often the culmination of years of hard work, dreams and aspirations.
The demolition of a house solely because the person residing there is either an accused or convicted in a criminal case will amount to inflicting "collective punishment" on the entire family, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan made these observations in its significant judgement which laid down pan-India guidelines on demolition of properties.
The apex court said when a particular structure is chosen all of a sudden for demolition and the rest of similarly situated structures in the same vicinity are not even being touched, "mala fide may loom large".
