Noida workers’ stir: hold officials accountable for ‘illegal detention’, say lawyers and activists

Officials should be held accountable for the continued “illegal detention” of activists and workers in connection with a stir seeking wage hikes in Noida in April, several lawyers, activists and professors demanded at the Press Club of India on Thursday.

The call came following the Allahabad High Court’s ruling on September 2 that quashed the detention of 25-year-old Delhi University law student Akriti Chaudhary under the National Security Act (NSA) in connection with the stir.

At least 15 workers and eight activists, including former journalist Satyam Verma against whom provisions of the NSA have also been invoked, continue to be in jail in cases filed by the Uttar Pradesh police.

The court had come down heavily on Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam, who had issued the order to detain Ms. Chaudhary. It observed that Ms. Roopam “desired to make an example” out of the petitioner.

Demanding accountability from officials involved in the case, senior journalist John Dayal said: “Even if it is the daughter of the CEC (Chief Election Commissioner) or the CJI (Chief Justice of India), they must be held accountable for their actions.”

“The court verdict in Akriti’s case questions the functioning of Gautam Buddha Nagar DM Medha Roopam and this applies to most officials across the country. Just as Swatantra Bhardwaj (who was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on the father of a student during a protest at Jantar Mantar in July) boasts about his crimes calling BJP leaders ‘big brothers’, U.P. Police functions with the arrogance that the government and administration are their ‘big brothers,” Mr. Dayal said, adding that police reforms are needed in the country.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan said the quashing of Ms. Chaudhary’s NSA detention is “symptomatic of the winds of change” blowing through the country. “The students, youth, and working people of the country are on the streets demanding accountability from the government and the administration. It has put more pressure on the judiciary to give judgments in favour of the people,” he said.

Keshaw, an activist associated with the Campaign for Release of Activists and Workers of Noida (CaRWAN), said the High Court flagged discrepancies in Ms. Chaudhary’s detention order and termed the State’s version a “concocted story”.

“The Commissioner of Police, Laxmi Singh, had claimed at the outset that they had ‘strong electronic and videographic evidence’ to nab the ‘masterminds’. Yet, even after five months we do not see any concrete evidence being presented against any of the activists or workers,” he said.

“DM Medha Roopam, who has been reprimanded and fined by the Allahabad High Court, has written in the same document in which she approved the NSA detention that the workers’ agitation can affect capital investment and portray a harmful image of the industrial area. Is she not declaring loyalty to the industrialists of Noida whose exploitation led to the workers taking to the streets in the first place?” he said.

Mr. Keshaw also referred to a video that surfaced in which U.P. Police can be allegedly seen planting the phone of a detained activist at her home. “During police custody, they brought Srishti to her home to ‘recover evidence’. The footage clearly shows them placing her already seized phone and a book in her house and ordering her to take it, so they can capture it on video. Seeing the cameras, they abort their mission and even try to break the cameras,” he said.

Other speakers, including former JNU professor Arun Kumar, and lawyer Manik Gupta, representing the activists in courts, said the government was not ready to accept that there was skyrocketing inflation in the country and worsening workers’ conditions, which led to the protest. “After what happened in the Strait of Hormuz, the prices of LPG cylinders went up in India. Workers who earn ₹10,000-12,000 a month cannot afford to buy cylinders,” Mr. Kumar said, adding that around 94% of workers in India are employed in the unorganised sector.

“Whenever we apply for bail, new sections and new FIRs are added. The NSA is invoked. The accused are brought to court after custodial torture, in chains,” Mr. Gupta alleged. “It is fortunate in the current regime in U.P. that they were not killed in an encounter. All grounds for invoking the NSA have fallen apart in the court. No claim is backed by evidence,” he said.