The Ministry of External Affairs is shocked that the United Nations didn’t wait for its formal response before issuing a press release, asking India to stop the Khori Gaon evictions. What’s more, it found the UN’s remarks against the Supreme Court of India disrespectful.
Stating that India is aware of its international human rights obligations through the UNHRC members, the MEA found the UN Special Rapporteurs abusing its position.
Some 100,000 people in Khori Gaon in Faridabad are being evicted and UN human rights expert want India to halt it so that residents are safe in the pandemic. It found the Supreme Court’s removal order as “extremely worrying.”
“We appeal to the Indian government to respect its own laws and its own goal of eliminating homelessness by 2022 and to spare homes of 100,000 people who mostly come from the minority and marginalised communities,” observed the Rapporteurs, “The role of the supreme court is to uphold the laws and to interpret them in light of internationally recognised human rights standards, not to undermine them.”
Last month, the Supreme Court directed Haryana and the Faridabad municipal corporation to remove “all encroachments” consisting of around 10,000 residential constructions in the Aravali forest area near Lakarpur Khori village in Faridabad district, asserting that the “land grabbers cannot take refuge of rule of law” and talk of “fairness”. A vacation bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari sought a compliance report within six weeks.
