Labour rights activist Naudeep Kaur released from prison after HC grants bail

Karnal, Feb 26: Labour rights activist Naudeep Kaur released from prison after Punjab and Haryana High Court granted her bail earlier today in a case filed under attempt to murder and some other charges, more than six weeks after she was arrested in Haryana's Sonipat for allegedly gheraoing an industrial unit and demanding money from the company.

"The court accepted the bail application of Naudeep Kaur. She has been granted bail by the high court," her counsel Arshdeep Singh Cheema said.

In her bail plea, the 23-year-old activist had claimed to have been severely beaten up at a police station after she was arrested by the Sonipat police on January 12. The police have denied the charge as "baseless".

Kaur had also claimed that she was falsely arraigned as accused in an FIR lodged under various sections, including 307 (attempt to murder), of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The activist claimed she was targeted and falsely implicated in the case as she was successful in generating massive support for the ongoing farmers'' movement against the Centre''s three contentious farm laws.

Kaur is lodged in Haryana''s Karnal jail. She is a member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan and a resident of Giadarh village in Punjab''s Muktsar district.

On February 24, the high court had posted the hearing on her bail plea to Friday.

Earlier, a court in Sonipat had granted bail to Kaur in two separate cases of extortion.

Kaur''s family expressed happiness at the activist being granted bail.

Her sister Rajveer Kaur said that the family was happy that she would be released from jail. "She had to spend one-and-a-half months in jail...," Rajveer Kaur said.

Naudeep Kaur will walk out of jail once necessary legal formalities are completed.