Maruti factory violence case: Haryana Court holds 31 guilty, acquits 117 workers

In a court hearing with regards to the Maruti Suzuki factory violence case of 2012, a Gurugram court on Friday convicted 31 former workers attached to automobile major’s Manesar plant but acquitted 117 others for lack of evidence. Additional District and Sessions Judge R P Goel was expected to decide later on the quantum of punishment to the guilty – put in two categories as per the charges proved against them. [caption id=“attachment_2550358” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Following the violence on 18 July, 2012, all the 142 workers were sacked by the carmaker. After being arrested by the police, none of the 148 jailed workers could secure bail for long. During the labour unrest in 2012, the then Maruti’s general manager (human resource) Awanish Kumar Dev was burned to death by workers. Besides Dev, over 50 persons were also injured, and several policemen were also injured in the melee. It was only on 23 February, 2015, that the Supreme Court granted bail to two of the 148 accused. The violence was triggered on the carmaker’s premises after a supervisor allegedly abused and slapped a worker. Services of nearly 2,500 workers, including 546 permanent employees, were terminated after the incident. Maruti declared a lockout for over a month, suffering loss of several crores of rupees in the process. In Gurugram, Section 144 was imposed and additional cops were deployed at sensitive areas ahead of today’s verdict, as workers had threatened a protest if the judgement did not turn out in their favour.