Bulldozer Raj in Assam: House of an accused in a suicide case demolished

The Dibrugarh district administration demolished the house of one Baidulla Khan in Ghoramara, accused in animal activist Vineet Bagaria’s suicide case.  As per the notice dated July 8, the district administration claimed that the house of Baidulla Khan had been illegally constructed and violated all norms.

The demolition was carried out on July 12 following Assam Special DGP GP Singh’s visit to Bagaria’s residence in Dibrugarh the evening before. On July 9, Assam Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had met the Bagaria family and apologised for the failure of the district administration in responding to a call for help earlier by deceased Bagaria.  

He had committed suicide by hanging himself on July 7 at his residence at Shani Mandir Road in Dibrugarh. Before his death, Bagaria had recorded a video where he accused Baidulla Khan, Sanjay Sharma, Nishant Sharma and Izaz Khan of physically and mentally harassing him and his family. Bagaria and his father had approached the local police and district administration, submitted written complaints, but no action was taken. Following Bagaria’s suicide, Dibrugarh Police has arrested Baidulla and Sanjay but other two are still absconding.

Although there are four accused in the case as per official reports, CM Sarma pin pointed Baidulla Khan’s role and his presence to be the trigger behind Vineet Bagaria’s suicide.

#BaidullaKhan home in Ghoramara was razed by the #DibrugarhDistrictAdministration's notice dated 8th July. As per the notice posted by the administration outside the said building the building was illegally constructed. #indiatodayne #VineetBagariaSuicidecase pic.twitter.com/1zIhOFAVhC

— India Today NE (@IndiaTodayNE) July 12, 2022

“I’m worried. There could be many Baidullas roaming around in Dibrugarh. I don’t know if we are discussing Dibrugarh or Dhubri or Jammu and Kashmir. Even in Dhubri and Jammu and Kashmir, nobody will dare to commit such a crime these days,” he said.

After Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Assam government seems to have picked up the modus operandi of demolishing the houses of individuals accused in crimes, particularly in those which catch media attention. Earlier in May, following the vandalism of the Batadrava Police Station in Nagaon district, the administration demolished several houses in the Salnabari area belonging to the people involved in the attack on the police station.