Arrested outside Parliament, Neelam Azad was detained during wrestlers’ protest too

Nain said that Azad has been influenced by BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. “She has also been distributing books on Bhagat Singh and the Constitution. She is also instrumental behind running a library in her native village,” she added.

According to her brother Ram Niwas, Azad holds MA, M Ed and M Phil degrees and has cleared the National Eligibility Test. He said that she had once appeared for an interview for a trained graduate teacher job in Delhi but was not selected. “She has been raising her voice against unemployment,” he said.

For the past six months, Azad has been preparing for competitive examinations while living in paying guest accommodation in Delhi. “She told us Tuesday that she was going to Hisar. We were not aware that she was going to Delhi,” said Niwas.

Her mother Saraswati said Azad was very upset because of unemployment. “We are not a prosperous family but still we educated her. At home, she used to say ‘I studied too much unnecessarily but did not get a job… It would be better if I die.”

Azad is from the Kumhar community and her father is a halwai. Both of her brothers sell milk in the village and in a town.

Local farmer leaders including Azad Palwa have expressed solidarity with Azad and sought her immediate release. Palwa said, “The government should learn a lesson from this episode and resolve unemployment. The youth are very upset because of unemployment in the country. Despite the promise of creating two crore jobs, the youth have got no jobs.”