The poor kids of Slumdog Millionaire just can’t catch a lucky break!
City workers in Mumbai bulldozed the home of child star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail on Thursday, along with about 30 other homes shacks as part of the demolition of dozens of shanties in a Mumbai slum.
According to reports, Azhar was asleep when a cop woke the 10-year-old up and told him to leave his home. A bit later his little shack and neighboring ones were destroyed!
The incident happened Thursday morning when cops and city workers arrived as part of the “slum demolition drive,” which is said to be common in certain cities in India. Apparently it’s a way to “keep crowding under control.”
Sounds kind of fucked up to us!
Azhar reports that “A police officer took a bamboo stick to hit me, and I was frightened.” Poor kid!
And Azhar’s mother claims she’s lived in that town for over 15 years and yet has no legal right to her land.
She reveals that “They didn’t give prior notice. We didn’t even get a chance to take out our belongings. I don’t know what I am going to do.”
But Indian officials are defending what they did. An official with the city’s Bombay Municipal Corporation said that only illegaly built shanties were destroyed, not the homes which were legally owned. He added that it was all a part of a “pre-monsoon demolition drive.”
Adding that “They were removed. That is the principle.” Though he did comment that those who had lived in the town for more than 15 years would be relocated somewhere new to a government-built housing.
We’ll believe that when we see it. But why not give any advance warning? Let the people collect what little they had?
So wrong!
And what happened to that Jai Ho trust the filmmakers setup to provide the kids with proper homes and an education????
[Image via WENN.]
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