High Court halts dismantling of Kalyanpur slum amid clash with police

The High Court has stopped the demolition of a slum at Dhaka’s Kalyanpur for three months as local residents and shanty people clashed and police during the drive.

Golam Mujtaba Dhrubabdnews24.com
Published : 21 Jan 2016, 05:49 PM
Updated : 22 Jan 2016, 06:20 AM

Public Works Department had bulldozed a quarter of the slum when the order reached the authorities on Thursday.

The clash erupted when the department started the dismantling drive on a 22-acre land at around 9:30am.

Officials had hit the residents with a two-hour deadline to empty the shanties, which enraged the locals.

Armed with sticks, a group then started to demonstrate at the main entrance to the slum even as some started moving out with their belongings.

Tension rose as the stand-off lingered. Clashes and running battles broke out when the demonstrators hurled stones at police.

Locals said police fired tear-gas canisters to disperse the agitators.

Police said the land belonged to the PWD.

“The people had been notified early enough. We came here to help the authorities,” Mirpur Police Station OC Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain told bdnews24.com.

With the help of police, the PWD finally managed to start the drive at one end of the slum at around noon while residents continued their protests at the other end.

Demonstrators claimed that a lawsuit was pending over the land and that they had secured a stay order from the court.

But the authorities said at 2pm that they did not get the copy of the court order.

Sub-Inspector Abul Kalam Azad told bdnews24.com police left the area after 4:30pm.

The bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Bhishmadev Chakraborty entertained the appeal for a freeze on the demolition after hearing rights organisation Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK).

It also instructed officials not to evict or harass the slum-dwellers without going through proper legal processes.

The eviction drive was underway while the court was hearing the matter.