The Supreme Court, in an important decision regarding the illegal bulldozer demolitions on the private homes of accused individuals and their family members, emphasised the need to follow legal procedures before any demolition. The court recommended freezing such illegal bulldozer demolitions for some time while proposing to frame pan-India guidelines to protect private property from illegal and targeted demolitions. This has reignited the debate surrounding ‘bulldozer justice’ and the need to put legal restrictions upon its misuse amid rising cases involving bulldozer demolitions. The Supreme Court stated that even the properties of convicted criminals would be protected from state-sponsored punitive demolition, and legal procedures are required to be followed in all cases; however, public encroachments by private individuals in the form of unauthorised construction would not be covered under the protection.