This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-, 1981)
On July 23, 1981, the Bombay municipal corporation, in pursuance of a verbal order from the Maharashtra chief minister, swooped down on 8,000 pavement dwellers in Bombay city, destroyed their homes, and deported them out of Maharashtra state. This operation was carried out without any prior warning. The corporation also planned to evict the rest of Bombay’s 250,000 pavement dwellers over the next few days.
Olga Tellis, a woman journalist, who has for years been vitally concerned with the problems of the poor in Bombay, and has been actively campaigning for adequate housing facilities for them, filed a petition in the supreme court against the municipal corporation’s arbitrary action. Indu Jaisingh, a woman lawyer, is arguing the case, claiming the right for pavement dwellers to squat on pavements since it is no fault of theirs that they cannot afford any other dwelling place. The supreme court has passed an interim order restraining the corporation from carrying out any further demolitions and evictions. The case will come up again this month. We talked to Olga and Indu about this case which is a landmark in legal history as it attempts to define a concept of justice which will be available to all, not just to those few who are rich and influential enough to “buy” justice and twist it around to suit their interests…