After being arrested for two days, 19-year-old Somaya Fatima al-Hindi was released only to be seen on video footage of the house she grew up in being bulldozed in a campaign that authorities say is aimed at fighting illegal construction and which organizations claim is a punitive policy against Muslims.
This year in India, the same fate befell a large number of houses and shops as part of the authorities’ campaign to crack down on unlicensed buildings and other criminal activities.
However, human rights organizations denounce this “bulldozer justice”, which they consider collective punishment in violation of the law, practiced by the authorities, pointing to a common denominator among the victims of this campaign. “We are Muslims and that is why we are being persecuted,” Somaya Fatima told AFP.
Several rallies organized across the country this Friday to protest provocative comments about the Prophet Muhammad by a spokesman for the ruling Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata, sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
After Fatima was released on Sunday, she was relaxing in a family member’s living room as she watched live footage of her home’s demolition on YouTube on her mobile phone.
