The Gauhati High Court had then stressed that “bulldozing of a house is not provided under any criminal law” even if an agency is investigating a “very serious matter”.

Houses of five people, including three rape and murder accused, were demolished in Assam’s Goalpara district on Sunday for alleged encroachment on government land, officials said.

According to a senior official of the district administration, the occupants had built their houses on government land in Tangabari village under the Dudhnoi revenue circle limits and notices to clear those structures were served to them. “As they did not comply with the notices to leave the land, the eviction drive was carried out to clear the encroachment,” he told PTI.

Of the five people, whose houses were demolished during the day, three were accused of raping two minor girls and being involved in the killing of a youth in a subsequent clash in May, said another official of the Dudhnoi circle office. “However, the eviction has no relation with the case. The criminal case is being investigated by the police. We carried out the eviction drive only to clear encroachment on government land,” he claimed.

Locals, however, claimed that notices were served to the alleged encroachers on Saturday and not 15 days ago as stated by the administration. Bulldozers were deployed to pull down the concrete houses with tin roofs, amid the presence of a heavy posse of policemen.

The family members were seen taking out their belongings from the houses and loading them in tractor trollies before leaving the area.

On May 3, two minor girls were allegedly raped by three persons. Subsequently, a clash broke out between the people of the girls’ village and the accused. A youth was seriously injured in the clash and he succumbed to his injuries on May 17.