From Procedure to Authoritarian State: A Critical Examination of Bulldozer Justice in India

Abstract

From the last few years the term “Bulldozer Justice” is going on in the political and legal spheres of the society. It refers to knock down the properties especially the residential properties which belonged to the person who is indulged in the criminal act, by disdaining the due process of law. This paper will thrive a jump into the historical emergence, political correlation, constitutional concerns and provisions, and socio-legal implications of bulldozer justice in India. It critiques and analyse the phenomenon from the perspective of rule of law, due process, human rights, and judicial accountability. This paper critically examines the rejuvenation of retributive justice in modern governance and how the emergence of the concept of the bulldozer justice affecting reformative justice system. It explores its implications for democratic institutions, rule of law, and how the society is getting impaired with it. The paper adopts a qualitative research methodology, combining doctrinal legal analysis with case studies from India. The paper highlights that how the bulldozer justice is becoming a threat to the democratic principles and influencing the theories of the punishment. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of punitive populism in present time politics, coining bulldozer justice as a significant threat to legal rationality and civil liberties.