Noida protests: Workers’ outfit members from Delhi, Lucknow arrested; lawyer says due process not followed

NOIDA: Two members of Mazdoor Bigul Dasta were arrested on Sunday for their alleged role in the violence that broke out in Noida on April 13 during a protest by industrial workers demanding higher wages.

Himanshu Thakur is originally from Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar but lives in Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh, and Satyam Verma is from Nishatganj in Lucknow, police said. According to Police commissioner Laxmi Singh, the two were present in the city during the violence and were in constant contact with Aditya Anand, who police are calling the ‘mastermind’ of the violence.




Thakur and Verma were taken into custody at Phase 2 police station, where they were called for questioning.

Himanshu, according to police, joined Mazdoor Bigul Dasta through Aakriti, who has also been accused by police of inciting violence, and participated regularly in labour movements along with Anand. Mazdoor Bigul Dasta is a workers’ rights group led by Rupesh Roy. Roy is among those who were arrested last week.

Officials said Anand contacted more than 70 individuals belonging to Disha Student Organization, Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India, Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Ekta Sangharsh Samiti before the April 13 protest for their support.

Police are scanning video footage to take into custody those responsible for arson during the protests. Investigations so far have revealed that people from various states, including West Bengal, Telangana and Karnataka, came to Noida on April 13 for the protests, officials said.

A map outlining preparations for the workers’ agitation was recovered from Anand’s residence in Arun Vihar, officials said, adding it contained details of specific roles assigned to different individuals and locations where protesters were expected to gather.

Speaking to TOI, advocate Manik Gupta, counsel for Anand, Verma and Thakur at the Gautam Budh Nagar district court, said, “Noida police applied for custody remand, but the court sent them to two days’ judicial custody.”

Gupta contended Anand’s arrest because he was taken into custody by Railway Protection Force from Trichy railway station in Tamil Nadu for a BNS offence. “The RPF does not hold powers to arrest any person under BNS. They can only arrest people under the Railway Protection Force Act. The arrest was done in secrecy and the lawyer of the accused was not informed. No order for transit remand was taken from the judicial magistrate to bring the accused from Tamil Nadu to Noida,” he said.

In case of Thakur and Verma, he said, “They were not taken to a judicial magistrate within 24 hours of their arrest, as is mandatory under law. Their grounds of arrest were also not told to them as the FIR registered by police does not mention them as accused.”

Police sources, however, said 17 lawyers appeared in Anand’s defence after RPF detained him and argued that he was falsely implicated to oppose the transit remand. “However, the court granted the remand, noting that a non-bailable warrant and a reward of Rs 1 lakh had been declared against him,” a source said.

A separate case was meanwhile registered over arson and vandalism at car showroom Vipul Motors in Sector 63 during the April 13 protest. Several cars there were vandalised or set on fire by a mob. Pradeep Dixit, the workshop manager, alleged that a mob began pelting stones at the facility and several individuals entered the premises and assaulted staff members. He accused them of trying to kill the security guard when he tried to intervene. The attackers also set fire to the guard room.

Police said participants in this attack are yet to be identified.
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