Noida workers’ protest: NSA invoked against DU graduate, ex-journalist | Delhi News

The Noida police also requested a three-day police custody for some of the accused, which the court listed for hearing on May 15.

‘If the police are targeting certain ideologies, I myself hold some of them’

The protests and the violence that followed had prompted a police crackdown that led to 15 FIRs in which hundreds of people were booked and at least 60 put in jail. A month on, families of the accused – from a mason to a history major, from an NIT graduate to a private firm employee – say they are awaiting clarity on what happens next.

While 1,200 people had been detained in the wake of the protests, most were released in subsequent days, while around 60 remain in jail, facing charges ranging from rioting to attempt to murder. A total of 15 cases were lodged in connection with the protests and violence, Gautam Budh Nagar Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Rajeev Narain Mishra said.

Behind the stringent charges is the police claim that the riots were not organic but rather premeditated. Police have alleged that an “organised syndicate of outsiders” orchestrated the violence – a charge denied by the families of those arrested.

The family of Aakriti Chaudhary, against whom the police invoked the NSA on Wednesday, claimed she was picked up from the Botanical Garden Metro station in Noida on April 11. Police had said she was initially detained for disturbing the peace and public disorder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, adding, “After taking her into custody, we investigated and found evidence of her involvement in organising the protest.”= Charges against her also include attempted murder, intent to cause death or grievous harm during the incident, endangering life or personal safety, and criminal conspiracy.

Chaudhary’s father, Arun Chaudhary, works for Ganashakti, the Communist Party of India mouthpiece.   He asked how someone who was picked up on April 11 could be charged with violence that occurred two days later. “If the police are targeting certain ideologies, I myself hold some of them. What is wrong with having them? I’m proud that my daughter was raising her voice for workers’ rights. She is the Bhagat Singh of today. She’s still bold, and whenever we meet her in jail, she tells me not to lose hope. There is such heavy police deployment whenever I meet her, as if our children are terrorists,” he said.

Along with Chaudhary, two others — Shristi Gupta (25) of Amethi and Rupesh Roi from Bihar — were arrested on the same charges. While Roi’s family was unavailable for comment, Gupta’s advocate, Rajnish Yadav, said that PhD students and social workers were simply “helping out” the workers. He, too, asked why Gupta was charged for the violence that occurred two days later. “When these students and social workers heard the plight of the labourers, they came out in their support through speeches and street plays. Just like during the farmers’ protests, when people came from far-off places to show solidarity, these people too showed their support,” he claimed.

Lucknow-based journalist Satyam Verma, the second person against whom the NSA was invoked, was picked up from his residence.  His friend, Katyayani (67), said Verma worked for 15 years as a journalist in Delhi and Lucknow in Univarta, and is the editor of “Bhagat Singh aur Unke Sathiyon ke Sampurna Uplabdh Dastavez” (The Complete Available Works of Bhagat Singh and his Comrades).

He has also translated many literary works, she said.