New Delhi, 20 April (H.S.):

A fact-finding team formed by the All India Lawyers Union (AILU) in collaboration with student and youth organisations has released its report on the labour agitation in Noida’s industrial area, raising serious concerns over the manner in which arrests were carried out.

The team said there has still been no official clarity on the number of people detained. According to eyewitnesses cited in the report, nearly 800 people, including around 350 minors, were allegedly arrested in connection with the incident.

Issued under the signature of Sunil Kumar, secretary of AILU’s Delhi state unit, the report alleged that on April 13 and 14, police picked up several innocent people from the streets. Many of those detained were children returning from tuition classes, while others were shoppers buying groceries, medicines or clothes, and some construction workers were taken away while having lunch.

The report said plainclothes policemen carried out the arrests.It further stated that several workers employed in factories were detained from their workplaces between April 15 and 17. In some cases, workers were arrested before they could even enter the factory premises, allegedly at the behest of management officials. The report also claimed that some workers had been called to work by their employers before being taken into custody.

The fact-finding team expressed concern that families were not informed after the arrests, and no details were provided about where the detainees were taken or held. The report also said that the reasons for the arrests were not disclosed.

According to the report, many workers were detained under Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Family members, it said, have been making repeated visits to police stations and the Kasna jail in search of their relatives, but their whereabouts remain unknown. Many of the workers have still not been released.

The report concluded that the Noida police violated constitutional safeguards in its handling of the labourers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar