“Worse than death”

On 7 June 2021, the Supreme Court set a six-week deadline for the demolition of houses in the Khori village settlement at the foothills of the Aravallis, at Delhi’s border with Haryana. According to a PIL in the court, around ten thousand people reside in Khori. Most residents are poor migrant workers who settled here over the past two decades. Many were duped by land dealers into buying plots without documentation. Already reeling from the brunt of coronavirus and the accompanying lockdowns, Khori residents now live in constant fear of eviction from their hard-built homes. According to the residents, at least three people in Khori have taken their lives after the demolition order.