Manisha Chauhan, a 25-year-old factory worker arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police in connection with the Noida workers’ agitation, has moved the Allahabad High Court seeking a direction to club 11 FIRs registered against her. According to the petitioner, since the cases refer to the same set of events that took place between April 10 and 13, and the chargesheets filed by the police in some of the cases present overlapping evidence and witnesses, all FIRs can be clubbed.

Workers in the Noida industrial area staged a series of protests in April over issues such as wage hike, working hours and better overtime pay, with violence reported during one such stir on April 13. Several individuals were arrested and multiple FIRs registered alleging that “outsiders” and coordinated misinformation networks were hijacking the protests. 

Her counsel Manik Gupta said the clubbing of FIRs will help all workers and activists implicated in these cases to attend the trials together. “Trials will not be able to take place unless all of them are there together. The cases refer to the same protests so we have petitioned before the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution [a writ petition] challenging the registration and continuation of multiple FIRs arising out of one continuous labour agitation,” he said.

“The police have made the legal process in itself a punishment for workers like Manisha. As soon as they get bail in one FIR, another is filed against them with the same charges and referring to the same set of events. With this, her bail turns out to be illusory as she continues to be in jail, waiting to be granted bail in other cases,” Mr. Gupta added.

“The multiplicity of FIRs has therefore ceased to serve any legitimate investigative purpose and has instead become a mechanism for ensuring continuous incarceration notwithstanding the commonality of the allegations,” the petitioner argued.

According to counsel, the Uttar Pradesh police arrested a 16-year-old, who was in Kasna jail with adults for over two months. “Despite being a minor, he was asked to fill bonds with two sureties of ₹50,000 each. This was later reduced to ₹30,000 and bail was secured in two other cases on personal bonds. Workers are supposed to fill bonds, get verifications done, travel to courts for hearings from their native places while companies have blacklisted them and they have no means of employment in Noida any longer. The clubbing of FIRs will help reduce their expenses,” Mr. Gupta said.