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Neelam arrested for protesting outside Parliament participated in farmers' agitation: Family members

Some locals from her village said that she had also gone to the site of wrestlers' agitation at Jantar Mantar in Delhi

A police personnel apprehends a woman carrying a can emitting yellowish smoke while she was protesting outside the Parliament premises, during the Winter session PTI

PTI
New Delhi, Chandigarh | Published 14.12.23, 09:52 AM

Family members of Neelam, one of the two persons arrested for protesting outside the Parliament on Wednesday, said she had earlier participated in several agitations including farmers' movement.

Neelam's mother Saraswati Devi told reporters at her house in Ghaso Khurd village in Haryana's Jind that she came to know about the incident through the media.

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Some locals from her village said that she had also gone to the site of wrestlers' agitation at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

Two persons, including Neelam, protested outside the Parliament building and sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting slogans 'tanashahi nahi chalegi' (dictatorship will not be allowed). They were arrested by the Delhi Police.

Neelam, who is around 36-years-old, was currently staying in a PG accommodation in Hisar for the last five months where she was preparing for competitive examinations, her brother Ram Niwas said.

"I got a call from my elder brother to switch on the TV. He told me that Neelam was arrested in Delhi," Niwas told PTI.

According to Niwas, she actively participated in farmers' protest.

He said that his sister, who has cleared National Eligibility Test (NET), had visited the village two days ago, but she did not talk about her plan to protest at the Parliament.

She had also once gone to Khatkar toll plaza in Jind district with a group of protesting farmers, he said, adding that she was highly qualified.

He said she has done MA and MPhil, but was upset over not getting a job.

"Her certificate of Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test had expired. I asked her to go to Hisar and get coaching for the same," said Niwas, who does livestock farming.

She also raised her voice against issues like unemployment, said residents of Ghaso Khurd.

Neelam's mother said, "I don't know how she took this step. Maybe she did this to get a job." I spoke to my daughter this morning and she asked me to regularly take my medicines. We were not aware that she had gone to Delhi," Saraswati Devi said.

A villager at Ghaso Khurd said Neelam had once gone with some villagers at Khatkar Toll plaza during farmers' protest against now-repealed farm laws.

Neelam has three sisters and two brothers. Her father Kohar Singh works as a 'halwai' (confectioner) in Uchana Mandi, the villager said.

Sikkim Devi, a farmer leader from Jind, said Neelam had taken part in farmers' agitation against now-repealed farm laws with her.

"She is highly educated, but she was hurt with being unemployed. She belonged to an ordinary Kumhar family and the family had meagre means," she said.

Sikkim Devi said that Neelam had not met her for the past few months or spoken with her.

The incident outside Parliament happened minutes after two people jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery and opened canisters that emitted a similar-coloured smoke, triggering panic among the MPs.

The area around the Parliament was turned into a fortress following the incidents with the deployment of police and paramilitary personnel.

The Delhi Police's Special Cell has been tasked with the investigation of both the incidents, according to officials.

The two incidents took place on a day when the nation is observing the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack. Terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed outfits attacked the Parliament complex on this day in 2001, killing nine people.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

Parliament Farmers Protest Arrest
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