It has been five months since 64-year-old Shakambhari last met her husband Satyam Verma, a freelance translator and former journalist who was arrested on April 17 in connection with the Noida workers’ protest. “I could never have imagined that those in power could be afraid of people like Satyam,” she told The Hindu.
Uttar Pradesh Police booked him in 11 cases in addition to charging him under the National Security Act (NSA) in connection with the agitation and sent him to the Greater Noida district jail.
Earlier this month, the Allahabad High Court had quashed the detention of the other individual — 25-year-old student Akriti Chaudhary — booked under the NSA over the April stir while coming down heavily on Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam, who had issued the detention order.
On Tuesday, the High Court deferred the hearing on Mr. Verma’s bail plea after the State counsel sought an opportunity to file objections to his application, citing parity with Ms. Chaudhary. The court scheduled the next hearing for September 23.
In her detention order against the former journalist, where she invoked the NSA, Ms. Roopam stated that the former journalist had “engaged in criminal conspiracy to incite widespread violence and harm the state”.
‘Link’ to Nepal protests
It cited the police report, based on which the NSA was invoked, accusing him of “indirectly instigating the workers… to commit violence” not only in Noida but “also in Nepal, leading to the ‘Gen Z’ revolution”. The police report describes Mr. Verma as an “ideological catalyst” and a Marxist who “inspires the new generation to join rebel organizations” and who engages in “violent writing work hidden under a false cover”.
“Satyam and I have shared a close association for nearly four decades. During this period, Satyam worked with reputed media organisations and later left his job to take up editing work. I was with him when he was editing the [Rajkamal Prakashan’s] World Classics series. I was also with Satyam when he translated Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle into Hindi,” said Ms. Shakambhari.
Speaking to The Hindu at the jail on a rainy afternoon, the freelance translator said he had lost significant weight since his incarceration. He said initially he had difficulty in procuring medicines for ailments such as diabetes. “Things are better now. I am taking my medicines and keeping busy with reading and translation work. We also play volleyball sometimes with a ball made of discarded polythene. That’s just how we pass time here,” he said.
Mr. Verma was picked up from Janchetna bookstore in Lucknow on April 17, four days after the violence in Noida. “The police had been after us since he had put up a Facebook post in support of the workers’ movement,” said Katyayani Sinha, his colleague and relative.
She added, “He was called to a police station on April 9 and forced to delete the post. On April 13, the police again came to the Janchetna office in Lucknow and, on the pretext of questioning, took me, Satyam and Sanjay, our colleague, to the Hasanganj police station and kept us there for the entire day.” Janchetna is a book distributor. Mr. Verma, a founding member, currently serves as its treasurer.
“On April 17, around 11.30 a.m., a large police contingent surrounded the office. They seized laptops, mobile phones, books and other items and took Satyam away. They also searched his home without a search warrant. They seized his personal belongings and took him to Noida without an arrest warrant,” said Ms. Sinha. His lawyers have disputed the legality of the arrest and alleged that due process had not been followed.
The NSA against him was invoked on May 12 while he was in jail. On May 26, he was produced before the NSA Advisory Board where the police submitted additional grounds for his arrest, which his counsel Manik Gupta claimed was done in contravention of the law.
“Verma was unaware of the complete grounds of his arrest when he appeared before the board, which was illegal,” said Mr. Gupta.
He said, “As per the charges, the ‘conspiracy’ to instigate workers was hatched at Karawal Nagar on March 22. The Allahabad High Court has already noted in Akriti’s case, with respect to that event, that the gathering was nothing more than an innocuous inauguration of a library for the children of poor workers… The police have not been able to present any evidence so far to corroborate their claims.”
Perusing prison library
Mr. Verma said he has been busy reading books at the prison library, including D.N. Jha’s Ancient India: In Historical Outline, R.S. Sharma’s Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation and The Making of the Madras Working Class by D. Veeraraghavan. He has also been translating the works of Howard Fast and Bertolt Brecht in Hindi.
Published – September 16, 2026 01:30 am IST
