The Crowd Wants a Bulldozer: You Are the District Magistrate of Mansa

When the Crowd Asks the State to Punish First

Imagine you are the District Magistrate of Mansa on 14 October 2026. Yesterday, anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota was shot dead at a chemist's shop while livestreaming. The video has spread across Punjab. His family will not cremate him until their demands are met, the markets are shut and the crowd outside wants something it can see.

The accused, chemist Ashwani Kumar, has already been arrested from Rajasthan. But an arrest is invisible. A bulldozer is not. On your desk is a note saying part of his house is unauthorised construction.

Why the Bulldozer Is Tempting and Why That Matters

The easy answer would be to call the demolition plainly wrong and move on. But the temptation is not irrational and it is worth taking seriously. The crowd's anger has a real basis. Jhota spent years fighting drug sales and his supporters believe the local system failed him.

They are demanding the dismissal of the SSP, DSP, SHO and the drug inspector concerned. One SHO has already been suspended. When people believe institutions have failed, they want proof that the state is on their side. The house has a rule attached to it, too.

Unauthorised construction is a real violation. You could tell yourself you are only enforcing the building code. That is precisely the danger. In November 2024, the Supreme Court laid down binding guidelines against demolishing a person's property because they are accused of a crime.

Its reasoning was that the executive cannot act as judge. The guidelines require a 15-day notice, a personal hearing and video documentation before any demolition. A demolition timed for the day after a murder, against the accused, is punishment, whatever the file calls it.

Vigilantism on Both Sides

The case has a second, uncomfortable layer. In July 2023, Jhota and his supporters allegedly paraded Kumar through a Mansa market wearing a garland of shoes. Police registered an FIR against Kumar and also booked Jhota for taking the law into his own hands.

So the story is not simply good activist versus bad chemist. Private punishment had already entered it years before the killing. A state that now answers with the bulldozer joins that pattern rather than ending it.

The Resolution

I would not sign the demolition. Instead, I would make lawful action swift and visible, so the crowd sees the state working:

1. Show the arrest and its next steps. Brief the public on the arrest, the charges under the BNS and Arms Act and a timeline for the chargesheet.
2. Order an independent probe. Assign it to officers from outside the district, including into the conduct of local police and the drug inspector.
3. Audit chemist sales. Order an immediate district-wide audit of chemists' Schedule H1 and Schedule X registers, the records meant to track habit-forming drugs.
4. Act against all violence. Register cases against everyone who destroyed property, whoever they are. This has a real cost. The crowd may stay angry, the bandh may go ahead and you will be called soft on the drug mafia. Peace may take longer to return. But a state that punishes by spectacle tells the next angry crowd that spectacle works.