Supreme Court Threatens Contempt Proceedings Against Those Trying To Politicize Guru Ravidas Temple Demolition

The Supreme Court has threatened contempt of court proceedings against attempts to politicize the demolition of a Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlaqabad forest area of New Delhi by provoking public demonstrations.

The Supreme Court bench also made it clear that it would not tolerate criticism of its judgement.

The counsel appearing for the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) informed that demolition was carried out as per the order of the Supreme Court.

Earlier, a DDA statement did not use the word temple, and stated that the “structure” was demolished as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

According to the DDA statement, the permanent structure was dismantled peacefully without any resistance or use of force in the presence of Guru Ravi Das Jayanti Samaroh Samiti members.

The Supreme Court had observed in a case titled 'Guru Ravi Das Jayanti Samaroh Samiti vs Union of India', on August 9 that “serious breach” had been committed by the Guru Ravi Das Jayanti Samaroh Samiti by not vacating the forest area as earlier ordered by the court, according to the DDA statement.

Therefore, the Supreme Court ordered that the premises be vacated and the structure to be removed by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) with the help of the police, according to the DDA statement.

The Delhi Police and the chief secretary to the government of Delhi too were asked to ensure that the structure was removed, as per the DDA statement.

Senior Delhi police officials, DDA's senior officials and Guru Ravi Das Jayanti Samaro Samiti members were to be present on site in Jahanpanah forests on August 10, as per the DDA statement.

However, after the DDA followed the Supreme Court order and demolished the structure, this led to protests from the community in the state of Punjab after which Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had sought Prime Minister Modi's intervention to resolve the matter.