Why Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan said it is like running a bulldozer on the Constitution?

Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan on Saturday strongly objected to the recent growing trend of 'bulldozer justice' in many states. He said that demolishing the properties of crime suspects or accused is akin to bulldozing the Constitution. He described the trend of state authorities bulldozing the houses of the accused and then justifying it by calling it illegal construction as disturbing and disappointing. 

'Demolishing houses is like running a bulldozer on the Constitution'

Justice Bhuiyan said that according to me demolishing a property with a bulldozer is like running a bulldozer on the Constitution. This negates the very concept of rule of law and if it is not stopped, it will destroy the foundation of our judicial system.

Impact on people's lives due to such decisions

Emphasizing the impact of such actions, he said that suppose an accused or a convict lived in that house, but his parents, sister, wife and children also lived with him. What is their fault? If you demolish that house, where will they go? It is like taking away the roof from their heads. This should not happen even with the accused or the convict. Demolishing someone's house merely on the suspicion of being a criminal cannot be justified.

He raised the question whether it is right to punish the entire family of a person just because he is a criminal or guilty?

Need for reform in the judicial system

Justice Bhuiyan was speaking at the 13th Justice P.N. Bhagwati International Moot Court Competition held at Bharti Vidyapeeth New Law College, Pune. He stressed the need for reform in the judiciary and said that it is not enough to claim that the Supreme Court of India is the most powerful court in the world.

We also need to introspect whether we have made any mistake somewhere? If we do that, then only we can improve. And I strongly believe that there is a lot of scope for improvement in the Indian judiciary.

Need to reconsider SC's decisions

He said that even some of the Supreme Court's decisions may need to be reconsidered. As a sitting Supreme Court judge, I would have no hesitation in saying that the Supreme Court is supreme because it is the final court. But if there was another court above the Supreme Court, like the earlier Privy Council, then probably many decisions of the Supreme Court would have to be reconsidered.