The TLDR: The factory worker shot to global fame when Kamala Harris’ niece Meena tweeted: “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.” It helped draw attention not just to Kaur, but also the plight of workers in the Kundli Industrial Area (KIA) on the Haryana border—and their growing solidarity with the farmers who are close by at the Singhu protest site.

How it all began...

On January 30, Insta poet Rupi Kaur shared this video of Nodeep—who she described as “a punjabi dalit woman & trade union activist.” Rupi claimed that she was abducted by the police from her tent at Singhu—has been beaten and sexually assaulted in custody.

But the bigger push came on February 6, when Meena Harris defiantly tweeted out images of protesters burning her photo, and namechecked Kaur as an example of “what they would do if we lived in India.” 

Soon everyone was asking: Who in the world is Nodeep Kaur?

Who is this person?

The 23-year old is from Muktsar Sahib in Punjab. A high school graduate, she wanted to pursue a college degree in Delhi, but was forced to get a job to support the family instead. Until December, she was employed at a bulb-making factory, named FIEM Industries, in Kundli.

She is an active member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS) union and comes from a family of unionists. Her parents are part of the Punjab Khet Union and her older sister Rajveer is a student activist in Delhi University.

The situation in Kundli

When the lockdown was imposed nearly a year ago, all the factories in the area shut down. The workers were forced to return home when their employers went AWOL. When they returned to work and demanded their unpaid wages, they were rebuffed. According to workers, employers are still not paying them on time. Adding to that anger:  their alleged refusal to abide by minimum wage laws. Before her arrest, Kaur claimed: 

“According to the Haryana government, the minimum wage should be Rs 9,300, but workers in the KIA are made to work 12 hours for Rs 6,000-7,000/month. Women are paid even less.” 

An alliance with farmers: The resentful workers found unexpected kinship with the equally angry farmers when they set up their protest site in nearby Singhu. Soon farmers and workers banded together and began confronting the employers. The Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS) union set up its own tents at Singhu, and often took to the stage to air their grievances. 

A heated battle: The energised workers were met with stiff resistance from employers. Kaur told Caravan magazine:

“An organisation of company owners, Kundli Industries Association, has formed a ‘Quick Response Team (QRT),’ which has bouncers. They threaten and beat workers… Not just that, factories do not even allow labourers to unionise.”

Kaur’s arrest was triggered by a particularly nasty confrontation on January 2—when 100 farmers and workers were allegedly fired at by one of these ‘bouncers’. According to MAS, the police refused to file an FIR report.

The employers’ view: When asked about the incident, KIA “claimed that the QRT had been formed to stop “‘ugar pradarshan’—violent demonstrations—and theft.” And they alleged that the bullet had been fired in self-defence.  

Adding fuel to fire: According to Kaur, the workers were also being harassed by members of the Hindu Jagriti Manch—which told Caravan: “They are not labourers, they are ugrawadi (extremists). They are a threat to the country.”

The grounds for arrest

Kaur was arrested on January 12—when there was yet another violent confrontation between employers and workers. 

The family’s account: is the following:

“On January 12—the day when Nodeep was arrested—factory workers approached the management over the issue of non-payment of dues once again, but they faced brutal lathi-charge at the hands of the QRT. Even women workers faced harassment as their clothes were torn.

 

Nodeep—who was at the centre of this attack—was dragged by the police and beaten up by ‘the henchmen of the KIA’, [her sister] Rajveer told The Wire. ‘She was arrested from the MAS tent which was set up at the Singhu border, and dragged away in cuffs.’”

The police’s account: relies on the FIR filed by an accountant at a local factory. It claims that Kaur along with 50-odd others stormed a company office and demanded money: "When we refused, they created a ruckus and threatened us of dire consequences. We called the cops who were also beaten up by the accused and her accomplices.”

Kaur is specifically accused of instigating others to “teach the police a lesson.” She allegedly joined others to pelt the police with stones and beat them with sticks. And the complaint suggests that she or someone else “also tried to snatch a carbine from a gunman besides a file” from a head constable.

Also in dispute: Kaur’s sister says that she has been brutally beaten in custody:

"'I met her on January 13  when she told me that she was beaten by both male and female officers in her private parts,' she added. 'Haryana Police got involved and attacked the protesting labourers on 12 January. There was no female officer present. My sister was beaten up there and then picked up and taken to the police station.'"

The police deny all charges, and say she was taken for a medical examination to a local hospital—where “she herself gave a written statement to the female doctor that she doesn’t want to be medically examined as she had not been assaulted.” They also claim that she did not mention any such assault when she was presented in front of the judicial magistrate. 

The charges: Kaur is among the accused in two separate cases—including the FIR filed regarding the December 28 incident. The charges include attempt to murder, extortion, rioting with deadly weapons, criminal intimidation, causing hurt to a public servant, unlawful assembly and trespassing. She has been denied bail twice so far. Her family plans to move the High Court next.

The bottomline: If nothing else, the farmer protests have turned the spotlight on the plight of India’s least affluent. No one would have known or even cared about either Nodeep Kaur or the workers in Kundli without their presence.

Reading List

The Telegraph and The Print offer a good overview. The Wire has the most details on the case. India Today has the police version. Caravan magazine has the most details on the situation in Kundli—and the growing solidarity with farmers. Watch her sister Rajveer’s interview here.