New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to produce 2 workers, Aditya Anand, and Rupesh Roy, who were arrested during the recent protests in Noida, before it on May 18 at 2 pm. The order was passed during the hearing of a petition from Keshaw Anand, brother of Aditya Anand. In the petition, Keshaw alleged that the UP Police had subjected his brother to custodial torture.
‘Cannot be treated as terrorists’: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued a notice to the UP government. They directed them to produce both the workers in court. The court remarked that the 2 were merely protesting for higher wages and there was no reason for them to be treated as terrorists.
Justice Nagarathna told the state counsel, “They are not terrorists, they are merely demanding basic rights like minimum wages.” The court further noted that anyone “subscribing to leftist ideology, does not automatically become a terrorist.”
The court further ordered that both the accused be kept in judicial custody. This was after their counsel expressed apprehensions that the State was planning to move them to police custody.
Aditya Anand is a software engineer, Rupesh an auto driver
Aditya Anand is a software engineer, while Roy is an auto driver. Both of them took part in the recent workers protest in Noida. Aditya Anand was arrested from Tiruchirappalli railway station. The UP Police had declared a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information regarding his whereabouts. He claims to be a BTech graduate from NIT Jamshedpur.
Ruspesh Roy is an autorickshaw driver. He was arrested on April 17. A day later Anand was also arrested. A third person, a woman named Manisha Chauhan was also arrested by the UP Police.
According to the UP Police, Aditya Anand was the mastermind of the workers’ sit-in protest in Noida, last month. He reportedly orchestrated the violent activities that occurred during the workers protest in Noida. They said that he had a major role in planning and executing the inflammatory acts that took place during the protests.
The state also denied custodial torture. The UP government counsel said that they had complied with all requirements of arrest, including providing the reason for arrest. However, the court still ordered that the 2 be produced before it on May 18.