Residents of Sonapur's Kosutoli approach SC over eviction drive; hearing tomorrow

Guwahati, Sept 29: As many as 48 residents of Assam’s Sonapur locality have reportedly approached the Supreme Court following an eviction drive aimed at clearing a 100-bigha plot of land in the Kosutoli area of alleged illegal settlers.

According to reports, the families have submitted a contempt petition to the apex court, requesting a halt to the planned demolitions in Kosutoli village, which is home to approximately 150 families.

The petitioners claimed that the district administration's plan to carry out the eviction violated a Supreme Court order from September 17, which temporarily suspended all eviction drives nationwide until October 1.

The petition seeks contempt proceedings against the officials involved and is scheduled to be heard by the bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Vishwanathan on September 30.

Notably, earlier this month, the apex court had halted all eviction drives across the nation without prior notice.

However, the court clarified that the decision would not apply to unlawful structures located in public areas, such as pavements, roads, streets, railway lines, or bodies of water, or in cases where a demolition order had been issued by a court.

The petitioners stated that on September 13, their residences in the area were marked with red stickers, indicating that they would soon be demolished. The petition also reportedly mentions that they had not received any prior information regarding the eviction notices.

In their plea, the petitioners claimed that they have been living on the land for over 70 to 80 years without any disputes with neighbouring tribal or protected communities.

Earlier, on September 12, a violent clash between police and residents of Sonapur’s Kosutoli during an eviction drive resulted in the deaths of two individuals.

Following the incident, Director General of Police (DGP) Assam, G.P. Singh, visited the eviction site on September 13 and stated that an investigation was underway.

DGP Singh, however, did not rule out the possibility of a “conspiracy”, suggesting that some individuals might be involved in instigating the locals to resort to violence.