The High Court has ordered a 30-day status quo on the eviction process of the residents of the Harijan community in Mironjilla Colony near Aga Sadek Road of Banshal in Old Dhaka.
The High Court bench consisting of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Md Atabullah gave this order along with a rule on the preliminary hearing of a writ.
The next date in this regard has been fixed on July 21.
The concerned lawyers said that Harijans cannot be evicted for the time being as the court has given the status quo.
They could be evicted from the colony only after relocation or arrangement for them elsewhere.
The writ was filed by three lawyers following a newspaper report published on Wednesday on their eviction.
The newspaper report was attached with the writ.
The three lawyers are Manoj Kumar Bhowmik, Utpal Biswas and Ainunnahar Siddika. They participated in the hearing on behalf of the writ in the court.
Stating that the status quo has been given for 30 days, Deputy Attorney General Samarendra Nath Biswas said that the Dhaka South City Corporation has been asked to arrange vacant spaces for the residents of the Harijan community during this period.
They (Harijan community) will have to move there if space is provided. After that, the construction of the modern kitchen market can be carried out.
The writ petitioner said that the court also issued a rule in this regard.
The rule asked to explain why the process of eviction of the residents of the Harijan community would not be illegal without making arrangements for rehabilitation.
DSCC officials went to the colony with more than 100 policemen and vehicles (excavators and loaders) for eviction to clear the space of the Harijan colony for the construction of a modern kitchen market.
The students of Harijan community, wearing uniforms, staged a demonstration protesting the eviction drive of the government.
Later, the DSCC asked them to leave the colony within 48 hours.
The electricity, gas and water connections were also cut off, causing immense suffering to the 4,000 residents of the colony.
Harijan community people who came here from Telugu in India during the British era have been residing in the colony for several hundred years.
Besides, 500 families are living in the Mironjilla Sweeper colony. The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) said 66 among them will be rehabilitated as they are staff of the City Corporation.
A plan was taken to build a multi-storey building and a kitchen market after evicting the rest of the community.
