A former employee of Hindustan Times died on Thursday morning while staging a protest outside the publication’s building in New Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Ravinder Thakur was one of the 362 employees who had been sacked in 2004.
The 55-year-old man was found unconscious by passers-by who called up the police around 9 am. He was taken to a hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead, a police official in Barakhamba Road Police Station told Scroll.in. However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) BK Singh did not respond to phone calls and messages.
The protest has been going on for the past 13 years now. On Wednesday night, Thakur, who was a newspaper bundler, was the only protestor who was on a sit-in demonstration outside the office.
Javed Faridi, former general secretary of the Hindustan Times Employees’ Union, said 24 people, including Thakur, have died so far. “We are looking for his relatives to claim his body, and perform the last rites,” he said.
Faridi said that their protest would not stop. “The sacked employees will continue to conduct sit-ins outside the Hindustan Times office taking turns, like a relay, until we are given our jobs back.” He, however, added that most employees who had been sacked have managed to find a job now, and hence cannot participate in the protest on a daily basis.
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