Activist Nodeep Kaur gets international support amid reports of her ‘torture’, ‘sexual abuse’ by Indian cops

Voices are being raised on the international level for Nodeep Kaur (23), a Dalit labour rights activist and member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan who had joined the farmers’ stir amid reports of her “torture and sexual abuse” in the Police custody.

As per her family members and aides, Nodeep Kaur joined the farmers’ protest at the Singhu border of Delhi in November.  She was protesting near a factory in Kundli on January 12 when police picked her up. She has told her kin that cops assaulted her in custody, reports The Indian Express.

Meena Harris, an American lawyer, author, and niece of US Vice-President Kamala Harris said in a Tweet, “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”.

Ravi Singh, founder and CEO of international humanitarian organization Khalsa Aid expressed deep concern over the female activist’s arrest.

On its official Twitter handle, Khalsa Aid says, “We are extremely concerned for the safety and well being of young female activist #NodeepKaur who was arrested by @DelhiPolice last week. She has suffered abuse in custody. We appeal to the global human rights groups to seek her immediate release. @hrw @amnesty @cnni @Malala“.

A UK-based Sikh organization, ‘Sikh Activists UK,’ has found similarities between the case of Kaur and British national Jagtar Singh Johal, who is behind bars in Tihar Jail in Delhi. “Nodeep Kaur and Jagtar Singh Johal both have been illegally detained and tortured by Indian authorities, and we have quoted from both their siblings here on these images, so please help raise their voice by sharing the post. #FreeNodeepKaur #FreeJaggiNow #FarmersProtest  @FreeJaggiNow“, states the Tweet.

“It is totally shameful act that a woman put behind bars, tortured physically, mentally, and Sexually. Because that woman covered “Farmer Agitation” with her truthful reporting. It is a brutal act of State. Everybody should be standing with Nodeep Kaur”, said Parmjeet Singh Gazi, Editor of Sikh Siyasat news portal, sharing her video on Twitter.

#ReleaseNodeepKaur and #FreeNodeepKaur have gone viral over social media in support of the activist.

Disclosing the detail of the FIRs registered against Kaur, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), “On January 12th, the Haryana Police barged into the Majdoor Adhikar Sanghatan (MAS) tent erected in solidarity with the protesting farmers and peasants at the Singhu Border and arrested a 24-year-old Dalit woman, a worker, and trade union activist Nodeep Kaur. She was then taken to the Kundli police station where two different FIRs were filed against her, FIR 25/2021 and 26/2021″.

One under sections 148, 149, 186, 332, 352, 384, 379B and 307 of the Indian Penal Code and the other under sections 148, 149, 323, 452, 384, and 506; a wide range of sections including rioting while armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, causing hurt to a public servant, assault and criminal force, trespass, extortion, snatching, criminal intimidation and attempt to murder, said the spokesperson of the CASR.

He further said, “These FIR’s are based on statements by a police inspector and the accountant of the company that had failed to pay the workers’ wages, M/S Elecmech Pvt. Ltd. While in police custody, she was brutally beaten by male police officers, including her genitals amounting to sexual violence. In the midst of one of the largest peasant agitations in recent times where workers of the Kundli Industrial Area have shown solidarity with the agitation, the Haryana police, after repeated efforts to break this unity, has shown its brutality through heinous sexual violence perpetrated against a young Dalit woman hailing from a landless peasant family in Punjab. Nodeep Kaur has since been sent to Karnal Jail, where she remains in judicial custody for two weeks. Meanwhile, the threat of arrest of more workers looms large over the Kundli Industrial Area”.

Report of the CASR is available on https://indianculturalforum.in/2021/01/21/condemn-the-arrest-custodial-sexual-violence-faced-by-nodeep-kaur/

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