Deoria Mass Murder: Allahabad HC Stays Order to Demolish Prem Chand Yadav’s House

The Allahabad High Court stayed the order of a revenue official in Deoria district to demolish the residence of Prem Chand Yadav. Prem Chand was one of the six individuals recently killed in a land dispute.

The tehsildar of Deoria had issued a demolition order for Prem Chand’s house on October 11. However, Ram Bhawan Yadav, the father of Prem Chand, approached the High Court to challenge this order.

On October 2, Prem Chand, aged 50, was brutally attacked and killed with sharp-edged weapons by Satyaprakash Dubey and his family, who were in a rival dispute over the land. In retaliation, supporters of Prem Chand attacked Dubey’s residence, resulting in the violent deaths of Dubey and five of his family members, including children.

Justice Chandra Kumar Rai passed this order in an  appeal filed by Ram Bhawan Yadav against the demolition order. The petitioner’s counsel argued that the authorities were determined to demolish the house, despite the fact that Ram Bhawan had not pursued the remedy of an appeal under Section 67 (5) of the UP Revenue Code, 2006.

The counsel further contended that, on merit, the contested order could not be upheld. It was passed without affording a proper opportunity for a hearing and without conducting a thorough survey and demarcation.

The Chief Standing Counsel for the State, JN Maurya, asserted that the disputed land was recorded as ‘khalihan,’ and therefore, no intervention was warranted in the matter.

The court observed, “In view of the remedy of appeal against the order impugned passed by the Tehsildar, the writ petition is disposed of finally directing the petitioner to file an appeal before the Collector against the order impugned dated 11.10.2023 within a period of two weeks from today. If the appeal is filed within the aforesaid period, the same shall be registered and disposed of in accordance with law.” Furthermore, the court decreed, “It is directed that in view of the ratio of law laid down in Ali Sher (Supra), the order dated October 11 passed by the tehsildar for demolition and damages shall not be given effect until the disposal of the petitioner’s appeal under Section 67 (5) of UP Revenue Code, 2006.”