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

The tactic, in which state governments raze the homes and businesses of people as acts of retribution, has been on the rise in recent years.

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.

The Supreme Court said demolishing the house of an accused amounted to collective punishment on all family members

India's Supreme Court has said that authorities cannot demolish homes merely because a person has been accused of a crime and has laid down strict guidelines for any such action.

India's Supreme Court released a ruling on Wednesday finding that the country's authorities cannot use demolition of properties as punishment for those accused or convicted of crimes. It set