Karnataka High Court. (File)

A division bench of Karnataka High Court has directed the state government to locate and rehabilitate — or compensate — migrant workers whose homes were demolished by Bengaluru police in an eviction drive in January, triggered by an unverified police claim that workers living on a private property were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

The bench of Chief Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar issued the order on Monday after the state government reported suspension of a police inspector who issued the January 11 order seeking eviction of purported illegal Bangladeshi immigrants on a private property in Bengaluru’s Marathahalli area.

After the government submitted its report on suspension of the police officer, the court pointed out that it can be prima facie concluded that a large number of people were evicted “without following the due process of law”. The bench said that no inquiry was conducted by the state to find out whether there were indeed illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living on the private property before the eviction was conducted.

“It is the responsibility of the state to rehabilitate since the right to shelter — a fundamental right — has been violated. The state has to come up with a scheme for rehabilitation,’’ the court said while giving the government two weeks to draw up a plan to identify, locate and rehabilitate or compensate those who were displaced by the eviction drive.

A petition was filed in High Court by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on behalf of the affected migrant workers.