The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered an interim stay on the ongoing demolition of alleged illegal structures in Kolkata’s Topsia-Tiljala belt, sharply questioning the manner in which the “bulldozer action” was carried out in the Muslim-majority locality after the deadly factory fire earlier this week.

Hearing urgent petitions from affected residents, Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury observed that authorities could not demolish structures without following due legal process and directed all parties to maintain the status quo until further orders.

The court’s intervention came after disturbing accounts emerged from residents who claimed they were evicted without proper notice before demolition teams arrived with bulldozers, labourers, and a massive police deployment.

Several families alleged they were not even given 12 hours to vacate their homes.

According to residents, officials and police personnel suddenly entered the locality, asked people to leave, and soon after, bulldozers began tearing into buildings identified as illegal constructions.

Many claimed they had no opportunity to seek legal help or move to court before the demolitions started.

“We were still trying to understand what was happening when the machines arrived,” one resident alleged outside the court. Others claimed household belongings, documents and furniture remained trapped inside partially demolished homes.

The demolition drive had transformed parts of the congested neighbourhood into a high-security zone over the past 24 hours.

Roads were barricaded, and personnel from Kolkata Police, the Rapid Action Force, and central forces were deployed in large numbers as bulldozers ripped through structures amid tense scenes.

Some residents attempted to resist the operation, leading to heated confrontations with police before the crowd was dispersed.

The crackdown began after Tuesday’s devastating fire inside a leather factory operating from the second floor of a four-storey building at 50/1 JJ Khan Road in Topsia.

Two people died of suffocation in the blaze while five others sustained critical injuries.

A report later submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office reportedly found that the building had no sanctioned construction plan and lacked even basic fire safety measures.

Authorities subsequently declared the structure illegal and launched a sweeping demolition drive targeting nearby unauthorised constructions.

The state government had defended the action as part of a “zero tolerance” policy against illegal buildings and fire safety violations.

However, the High Court on Friday made it clear that even alleged illegal constructions could not be demolished arbitrarily without adherence to legal procedure.

While staying for further demolition work, the court did not immediately grant rehabilitation relief to residents who claimed they had already lost homes during the operation.

The matter is likely to be heard again in the coming days as questions grow over whether due process was bypassed during one of Kolkata’s most dramatic demolition crackdowns in recent years.