A 23-year-old Dalit and labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur is behind bars since January 12 after she was arrested from the Singhu border by Haryana Police on the charges of attempt to murder, extortion, rioting with deadly weapons, criminal intimidation, causing hurt to a public servant, unlawful assembly and trespassing.
Detained at Karnal jail since, that too without bail for more than 20 days, Nodeep was alleged to have been sexually assaulted. Past week, she was also denied bail by Sonepat Sessions Court “in view of the gravity of offence”. And her “crime” was to protest against the Centre’s controversial farm laws.
“My sister Nodeep Kaur has been kept in jail since January 12 and Shiv Kumar (her co-worker) from January 23. They were tortured. Because Nodeep, Shiv Kumar and the worker organization have shown the courage to expose the loot of farmers and laborers,” said Nodeep’s sister Rajvir Kaur, who is spearheading #ReleaseNodeepKaur campaign in the social media.
Coming to her rescue, the Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes, taking suo moto notice of the reports highlighting the matter of labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur, on Monday asked the state Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to intervene in the matter to ensure relief of the victim at the earliest.
The Commission has also sought a report, in this regard, by February 23 after initiating immediate requisite action. Panel chairperson Tejinder Kaur said that the Commission has taken the suo moto since the victim is a resident of Sri Muktsar Sahib district.
In a communiqué to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice, the Commission has written to intervene besides ensuring the relief to the victim as the matter was very serious and is an act of atrocity on a member of the Scheduled Castes community.
Even as the farm activists and some others have been demanding Nodeep’s release since long, it was only after an American lawyer and US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris tweeted about the alleged sexual assault that a 23-year-old had faced in the police custody.
“Weird to see a photo of yourself burned by an extremist mob but imagine what they would do if we lived in India. I’ll tell you—23 yo labor rights activist Nodeep Kaur was arrested, tortured & sexually assaulted in police custody. She’s been detained without bail for over 20 days,” Harris had tweeted on Saturday. Harris, who has also been tweeting regularly in support of the farmers’ protest and against the government’s crackdown on the protestors, is also supporting the online campaign seeking Nodeep’s release.
Now, Nodeep’s family is planning to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court for her release. Claiming that the allegations against her sister are false, Rajvir said: “Nodeep joined the protest at Singhu in November. She was also fighting for labourers who didn’t get wages regularly. On January 12, she was protesting near a factory in Kundli when police picked her up...I met her the next day and she told me cops assaulted her in custody.”
However, the police have denied the allegations claiming that Nodeep was kept in the ladies’ waiting room “for the entire time and was accompanied by two female police personnel for the entire duration of her stay”.
On the other hand, the family’s lawyer asserted that a medical examination was asked after Nodeep was arrested. Lawyer Jatinder Kumar, in an interview to a TV channel, had claimed that the medical report revealed wounds on Nodeep’s body and private parts which “points to the fact that Nodeep was sexually assaulted in police custody”,
But, the police claimed that Noadeep had refused a “special medical examination” by a lady doctor for sexual assault, saying that she does not want to be examined as she was not assaulted. The police further contended that Noadeep did not mention allegations of sexual assault to the Chief Judicial Magistrate before she was taken to Karnal jail.
WHO IS NODEEP KAUR?
Nodeep, a labour rights activist, is associated with Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS) and has been part of the farmers’ protest at Singhu border. Hailing from Punjab’s Sri Muktsar Sahib, Nodeep was working in a factory, based in Kundli in Haryana, before taking part in the protest. She has studied till Class XII.
As per available information, she was fired without being paid when she decided to join the protest. Her video also went viral on social media where she was heard talking about how labourers are also a part of the agitation against the farm laws and the laws need to be repealed to prevent the privatization of agriculture. Since her arrest on January12, the young Dalit labourer has become the face of a labour rights campaign that has run parallel to the farmers’ protest.
As per police version, Nodeep was detained during a gherao around an industrial unit that erupted in violence on 12 January. It says, Noadeep and other members of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan were trying to break into a factory in Kundli for the purpose of “illegal extortion under the garb of workers’ unpaid salaries”.
The police further alleged that when they tried to mediate, members of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan attacked them, leading to seven officers sustaining injuries. “Nodeep and other activists got violent and started beating the police officials with huge lathis and sticks when they arrived to tackle a gherao of an industrial unit,” it stated.