India's Supreme Court Stays Order to Raze Thousands of Homes In Haldwani City

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- India's Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a state high court order to demolish about 4,500 homes in a mostly Muslim neighbourhood in Haldwani city in Uttarakhand. Some 50,000 people would have become homeless if the Uttarakhand court's order had been carried out by the local administration. The state court last month ordered the eviction of residents, using the armed forces if necessary, in Haldwani's Banbhoolpura area over claims they were living on land belonging to the Indian Railways. The Supreme Court bench hearing the matter noted that those living in the area for decades could not be made homeless overnight. "It may not be correct to say that paramilitary forces have to be deployed to remove people who have been living there for decades," top court judge Abhay Oka said in Thursday's order, according to an Indian media report. Banbhoolpura residents told Bernama this week that they had property ownership documents and paid taxes and utility bills. They said their families had lived there for decades, in some cases before India's independence in 1947. Haldwani is in the Nainital district and located about 270 km from India's capital New Delhi. Uttarakhand, ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was part of Uttar Pradesh before becoming a separate state in 2000. -- BERNAMA