Jai Hind Camp, behind Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area, has been without electricity since July 8. The population is estimated to be around 3,000.
Large and polished roads surround Vasant Kunj, but at one point, there’s a narrow break in the pavement, a wide path that leads into Jai Hind Camp and about 100 metres in, the road turns into a muddy trail, with garbage piled on both sides.
Further inside, children can be seen running around in the lanes, some barefoot, others in worn-out slippers. People step back when they see someone holding a camera. Some stretch their necks to see what’s going on, a few smile, others just watch.
“I’m tired of journalists just walking into the camp with cameras. It’s been five days since we’ve been living without electricity. They come and go, but our situation is the same. Do our lives even matter?” says a woman when asked where Fatima Bibi lives.
She points further ahead and calls out to a boy to show the way.
"We have proof, we are not outsiders"
Fatima Bibi (36) is seen as a community leader and lives with her husband in what used to be the caretaker’s room of a community toilet that is installed in every Jhuggi Jopdhi (JJ) Cluster, under government scheme like the Jan Suvidha Complex (JSC), wherein such facilities are built and managed by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB). She opens the gate and leads in.
Explaining what happened on July 8, she says that officials from BSES, along with Delhi Police and CRPF personnel, had entered the camp around 10 a.m. and removed the electricity meter supplying power to the settlement.
“We’ve been paying the bills on time for the last 10 or 12 years,” she says. “No one here saw any notice. They just came and disconnected it. It’s so hot. Everyone’s just trying to survive.”
When asked about claims that “Bangladeshis” and “Rohingyas” live in the camp, her face tightens.
“We have every document to prove we’re 온라인카지노 citizens,” she says. “This ‘Godi media’ is ruining everything. They come here, record things, and say this is where Bangladeshis and Rohingyas live. We’re all 온라인카지노s. Just because we speak the same language (Bangla) doesn’t mean we’re outsiders. This is just a plan to remove us from here.”
Another resident, Rashida (40), a mother of three, says, “We’ve been paying our electricity bills for years. If this land wasn’t ours, then why were we allowed to live here for so long? Why now, all of a sudden, are they coming after us? Why are we being labelled as Bangladeshis?”
Lalita, her neighbour, adds, “If there’s a land dispute, why punish us with no electricity in this heat? Our kids can’t even sleep properly.”
Residents say the camp largely voted for the BJP in the 2025 elections. “Everyone from the camp voted for them,” Lalita says. “And now this is how we’re being treated. The government should do something.”
According to the locals residing on the land, the camp began to take shape in the 1990s, when migrants from Bihar, Assam, and West Bengal came to Delhi for work, mostly as daily-wage labourers. Many took shelter on what was once farmland. Today, the camp covers about 29 bighas (17 acres), roughly the size of 14 football fields.
While the settlement has no official recognition, residents say they have been paying the electricity bill for over a decade.
How the Case Took Shape
In 2016, a group of private petitioners, reportedly land-owning individuals from the Masoodpur village, approached the trial court claiming ownership of the land currently occupied by Jai Hind Camp residents. The court was asked to declare legal title in their favour.
"The case was straightforward in form but complex in its implications. The petitioners said, ‘this is our land, declare it as such.’ And unfortunately, those living in the camp, most of whom are migrants from Bihar, Assam, and West Bengal, never filed a response in court," says High Court Advocate Abhik Chimni
The case then sat in court for years, following adjournment after adjournment, the dates kept getting passed.
"Sometimes the judge wasn’t available, sometimes there was another issue, so on and so forth. Four years went by like that. Still, the residents didn’t file anything", Abhik stated.
Afterwards, in 2020, the court passed an ex parte decree, granting ownership of the land to the Masoodpur petitioners. The court further said how the slum-dwellers haven’t shown any proof; hence, they shall go with what the petitioners say.
But that same year, the landowners also filed an execution petition, asking police, MCD, and other authorities to act on the court’s order. But nothing happened for years.
“For some unknown reason, the eviction wasn’t carried out. Maybe there was a more compassionate regime at the time,” Chimni said.
"Electricity is a Basic Need"
Shyam Singh (38), known as Master Shyam in the area, is a tailor who has lived in the camp for 22 years.
“There were two main meters, one at the mosque in Sanaullah’s name, the other at the temple in Kashi Burman’s name. The officials initially stated that there were unpaid bills, but afterwards, upon checking, we found there were none. They had no answer. They just pulled the meter and left”, says Shyam.
After the cut, Shyam and others went to the BSES office at C9, Vasant Kunj, the same place where they usually pay their bills. The staff there had no information either. It was only when the Deputy General Manager (DGM) contacted the head office that they were told it was due to a court order.
Shyam explained that while they believed the land belonged to them, the residents of Masoodpur claimed ownership as well. He mentioned that locals who have been living on the land for almost 30 years remember it being unclaimed since the camp came into existence.
Although a legal dispute had been ongoing and a court stay order had been in place, it may have expired without their knowledge. Shyam added that the person responsible for legal matters hadn’t updated them, and if they had known earlier, they might have been able to extend the order. He noted that it was only after the court order lapsed that they realised the electricity had been disconnected.
The DGM apparently told them that power can be restored if a fresh court order comes through. But Shyam still can’t understand why it was done this way.
“There are little kids, old people, families, and no fans, no coolers. Electricity is basic. How are we supposed to live like this? I request that you tell the government and BSES that they should restore the electricity in our camp.”
He also questions the whole situation. “A meter running for 14 years suddenly becomes illegal? The court order will come anyway, why shut us down like this without warning?”
Chimney says that though the decision to bulldoze the camp has been passed, they’re filing a petition against the original finding that says the land belongs to the villagers, who claim it’s always been theirs and that the slum residents are just encroachers.
The High Court advocate further adds that if the government had, by chance, wrongly identified the land as its own and then officially recognised it as a slum, the responsibility lay with the authorities, not the residents. He questioned as to why people were being held accountable for an error they didn’t make, and said that if compensation was offered, they would be prepared to move. That, in essence, is what the case is about.
On Tuesday, a petition filed by Advocate Chimni on behalf of slum dwellers challenges the 2020 court order that directed their eviction. The residents, many of whom have lived there for years, argue that the order was passed without considering their rights under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) Act.
The petition says no survey or resettlement plan was carried out, as required by law, before the eviction was ordered. It asks the court to halt any demolition and ensure the residents are not removed without due process. The slum dwellers argue that they are entitled to protection, not treated as trespassers, wherein the petition calls for a lawful and humane approach that respects their right to housing.
According to a court order dated 30 May 2025 accessed by the reporter, it is stated in the document that eviction can proceed against everyone except individuals named Bilkish Bibi, Nabi Hussain, and Rafiq-ul-Hasan, who were granted protection in an earlier order on 7 October 2024. The Masoodpur residents, who won the case, have been asked to submit a site map marking these three households. Only those not protected will be evicted.
The order has also ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) to help with the eviction. The document also states that a bailiff can break locks if needed. The matter will be heard again on 30 August 2025.
Shyam says says the residents had heard rumours about such a court order, but their local councillor and MLA had assured them that nothing would happen. His expression grew grave after he is shown the court order.
Upon being asked if the move of cutting off access to electricity violates fundamental rights, Chimni says, "Have you seen how our country is running in the last 15 years? What human rights violation? Let's look at it legally. Let us assume that there is a reason to state that this is a violation of what our constitution gives as fundamental rights. But it’s hard to make that argument legally stick in this case, because the residents don’t have title papers.”
"This is a Land Dispute, Not a Citizenship Issue"
Shreya Ghosh, a representative of the Sangrami Gharelu Kamgari Union (SGU), who recently started assisting residents of the Jai Hind Camp, says the current crisis, including the disconnection of electricity, stems from a legal land dispute that has been unfolding for years.
According to Ghosh, the organisation became involved with the residents of Jai Hind Camp right after the electricity supply was cut. She said they had worked on legal filings for the petition on behalf of over 200 residents.
On the issue of residents being labelled as “outsiders” or “Bangladeshis”, Ghosh says, “It has nothing to do with Bangladeshi identity. This outsider thing must be challenged and we all need to contest this propaganda, as everyone who lives here is a citizen of India.”
She said she had reviewed over 250 documents belonging to residents, all of whom were either voters of Delhi or had identification from places like Cooch Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.
According to an official Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) list of 675 JJ Clusters from 2015 accessed by the reporter, the Jai Hind Camp near Masoodpur, Vasant Kunj is registered as Cluster No. 701, which shows that the Delhi Government recognises it as a Jhuggi Jhopdi (JJ) Cluster. This qualifies the location for facilities under government schemes like the Jan Suvidha Complex (JSC), wherein community toilets are built and managed by the DUSIB as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Since DUSIB only builds these complexes on recognised JJ clusters, the presence of a JSC in Jai Hind Camp supports the fact that while basic services are provided by the Delhi Government, the underlying land is officially recorded as Delhi Development Authority (DDA) owned, as per the same DUSIB document. Therefore, this listing affirms that the camp sits on DDA land, even though welfare services are administered by DUSIB.
While the legal challenge is uphill, Chimni believes even a partial win, like compensation, could help. “If we can prove the government notified it as their own land, then they owe these people at least something. They can’t just make these people disappear their lives.”
