A month after worker protests shook Noida’s industrial area, a Provincial Armed Constabulary bus sat parked outside Motherson factory’s Gate 4. Four guards frisked workers in beige uniforms as they walked through the gates. A deputy manager, coming to the entrance to answer questions, was clear: “The protests have had no impact. Everything is the same as before.”

Management’s version of normalcy ends a few kilometres away. At the District and Sessions Court Surajpur, Newslaundry met families of five workers – four men and one woman – who were jailed for over a month before bail was granted. Their names are Sangeeta, Guddu, Prince, Amit, and Gopal. Their bail bonds cost Rs 40,000 each. Their families are now in debt.

People already invisible to the system, now caught inside it.

‘Will not let her work again’

Sangeeta (28) had been working in Noida for eight years. She was arrested on April 13 outside her factory, which Motherson runs.

For the past 19 years, her father, Shravan Singh (57), has worked at a factory that produces steel reinforcement bars (sariya). “We go in the morning and come back at night. I earn Rs 700 per day. So, I earn around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per month.”  Since Sangeeta’s arrest, much of his daily wage has gone toward court and jail visits, transport, and food.

A resident of Kalyanpuri, Singh and his family had to travel over 40 kilometres to meet their daughter. “I work for 2-3 days before I have enough money to go see her. When we go for mulaqat, we have to spend money there,” he had told Newslaundry before Sangeeta was released. “Sometimes the auto itself takes Rs 300 one way. If the children come too, then it becomes Rs 500-600 for travel alone.”

Inside the jail, Singh said, visitors were not allowed to bring in cooked food, forcing families to buy items from the shops inside the jail complex. “We buy fruits, biscuits and things like that,” he had said. That cost around Rs 600, he said, adding that the family also had to hand over cash to her regularly. “Sometimes Rs 500, sometimes Rs 1,000.”

Sangeeta is back home now. But her mother, Prakash Kaur (52), says she will not let her work again.

“I’m not letting my daughter near Noida again, not after this. She’s learned computers and is educated, but I will not let her go back to Noida. Making matters worse, the company has blacklisted their names and numbers.” On asking what Sangeeta will do in the future, her mother said, “We'll see – get her married. If I tell anyone about this, how embarrassing will it be for us?”

Shravan Singh said that because Sangeeta is a girl, “we didn’t tell anyone”. “Not even my own brother. When people asked where she was, I said she had gone to the village,” he said, adding that he pleaded with officers to release her as there were “talks about her marriage”. “The police didn’t call us. We only found out about her arrest around 4 pm when her friend called and informed her mother. I was on duty at work.”

In jail, her father said, Sangeeta would often ask him, “Papa, when will you get me out?”  

Her father recalled that a lawyer had agreed to help them without charging a fee, though they still had to pay for forms and paperwork. Sangeeta had studied till Class 12, but Singh described himself as “angootha chaap”.

Describing his own life as a daily wage labourer, Singh explained that he spends entire days working in the heat, cutting and handling iron rods at construction sites. “I leave for work in the morning. I work in the sun the whole day. After lunch, I have to cut iron rods. Sparks fly while working,” he said, pointing to his hole-ridden pants.

“We earn in the morning and eat in the evening,” he said. “Look at this body now. All this is from labour.”

Shravan Singh's hands

According to Singh, Sangeeta earned around Rs 9,000 a month, money that directly supported the household. “She would bring rations home – flour, lentils, oil, household items. It made things a little tension-free,” he said. Along with Singh, his elder son also works to support the family. “He does the same work that I do,” he said. The younger son, he added, only worked occasionally as a painter.

Singh also spoke about the family’s animals, saying they had taken in injured and abandoned pets over the years. “We have two cats and two dogs. Some of them were sick or injured, so we brought them home and got them treated,” he said. Feeding them was another expense the family managed collectively. “Sometimes my son brings meat for them. Sometimes Sangeeta used to bring things for them too,” he said.

‘Everything is finished now’

Guddu’s account begins before the arrests. Inside the factory, about 50 to 100 workers work on a single manufacturing line or belt. Guddu was the leader of one such line. On April 13, he said, he had actually helped police disperse the crowd. “After that, people dispersed and went back home. I was picked up from outside my house,” he said.

Now out on bail after 36 days in jail, Guddu said the jailor had been decent to them. “He protected us. Nobody could beat us or force us to work. He would ask if our families knew about the arrests and even helped some........

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