The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Uttar Pradesh Police to produce before it two men arrested in a case related to the workers’ protest in Noida in April after a family member alleged custodial torture, Bar and Bench reported.
The men Aditya Anand and Rupesh Roy must be produced before the court at 2 pm on Monday, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by Anand’s brother. He alleged that Anand had been tortured by the police in custody after he was arrested for allegedly inciting violence during the protests, The Indian Express reported.
Colin Gonsalves, the counsel for Anand’s brother, told the court that the man was an engineer working at a factory and ran a library for children. Anand’s speeches at the protests focussed on workers’ rights and that recordings were available to support this claim, the lawyer was quoted as having contended.
On April 13, about 40,000 to 45,000 workers from several industrial units had gathered in parts of the city to press long-standing demands that their salaries be increased.
The protests came amid increasing gas prices because of the supply disruption caused by the conflict in West Asia.
The protests had turned violent. Videos widely shared on social media showed some protesters throwing stones and vandalising property, as security personnel tried to bring the situation under control.
On April 14, more than 350 persons had been arrested in connection with the violence.
On Friday, Gonsalves sought an independent investigation into the matter, Bar and Bench reported. “Now things have got a little bit out of hand,” Gonsalves was quoted as having said.
He also alleged that lawyers representing Anand were being physically obstructed.
The counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government denied the allegations of the men being tortured in custody and said that due process had been followed, the legal news outlet reported.
The state government also denied allegations that the grounds of arrest had not been provided to Anand when was arrested.
Witnesses had alleged that the police personnel deployed to contain the violence on April 13 had beaten up the protesters.
On April 16, a video surfaced online showing police personnel assaulting women. The video was shared on social media platforms by several users, including the Uttar Pradesh Congress, who alleged that it showed police personnel in Noida lathi-charging and manhandling women workers on the day of wage hike protests.
The police commissionerate in Gautam Buddha Nagar district denied this. It said that “prima facie, the video appears to be morphed or AI-generated and does not seem to be from Noida, but rather from some other location.”
However, eyewitnesses, who did not want to be identified because of the fear of facing backlash from the authorities, told Scroll that the video accurately captured the scene they had witnessed.
Scroll also used geolocation analysis and matched the video against a press photo to establish that the location was indeed Block A and Block B of Noida’s Sector 6. Scroll visited the spot and spoke to several people who had seen the police assault. Questions sent to Commissioner of Police Laxmi Singh at the time did not elicit a response.
Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
Also read:
- Noida and beyond: India’s workers are being shortchanged. They deserve a fair deal
- Fact check: Despite official denial, viral video showing police beating women workers is from Noida
- Watch: Called ‘Naxal’, thrashed by Noida police for asking for wage hikes
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