Oscar-winning 'Smile Pinki' fame's house gets demolition notice in Mirzapur

The Forest Department has issued a notice for the demolition of Pinki Sonkar's house in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur. Apart from the Pinki, over 30 people living in her village have been served demolition notices, and the forest officials have described their houses as "illegal possessions". According to Pinki and her father, Rajendra Sonkar, the villagers were not told that the land belonged to the forest department when the houses were being constructed. The villagers who received the notice said that the land was offered to them by the forest department officials when Pinki Sonkar's documentary won an Oscar award.