The court has banned authorities from arbitrarily razing down homes but victims say the ruling changes nothing for them.

India's Supreme Court has criticized states for demolishing properties of suspected criminals, a practice accused of targeting mostly Muslims. The court issued guidelines mandating due legal process.

India’s Supreme Court banned the use of so-called “bulldozer justice,” the government demolition of homes by state officials to punish those accused of crimes that activists said was a tactic predominantly used by Hindu nationalist authorities against the minority Muslim community.