A Gurugram court on Saturday sentenced 13 former employees of Maruti-Suzuki India limited to life imprisonment in connection with violence at automobile company’s Manesar plant in 2012. They were held guilty of murder and attempt to murder.
Additional district and sessions judge RP Goyal also awarded a jail term of five years each to four others who were found guilty of violence and rioting.
Fourteen other convicts would get released after payment of Rs 2,500 fine each as they had already served a jail term of more than four years, which, the court said, was "enough punishment for them”. The court termed them “undergone accused”.
RP Goyal heard arguments from the prosecution and the defence on Friday and reserved the sentencing for Saturday.
The 13 workers found guilty of murder were identified as union president Ram Mehar, Sandeep Dhillon, Ram Bilas, Sarabjeet Singh, Pawan Kumar, Sohan Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Ajmer Singh, Jiya lal, Amarjeet, Dhanraj Bhambi, Yogesh Kumar and Suresh Kumar.
They have been held guilty for under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 436 (rioting), 427 (destruction of property), and 325 (mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The four workers found guilty of violence and rioting were identified as Pradeep Gujjar, Ram Shabad, Iqbal Singh and Joginder Singh.
The court had convicted 31 workers on March 10 while 117 others were acquitted.
Security was heightened outside Maruti Suzuki’s offices after workers threatened to protest if the court failed to deliver justice to their colleagues. A prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPC has also been imposed in the district till March 25.
They were charged with the murder of Avanish Kumar Dev, general manager (human resource) of Maruti Suzuki, whose charred body was found in the remains of a building following the riots on July 18, 2012.
Dev died after he failed to escape a blaze which was started by workers who went on the rampage in the Manesar plant.
The police had arrested 148 workers in connection with the murder, whereas 62 others could not be arrested and have been declared proclaimed offenders.
Earlier, the defence lawyers also claimed that the convicted workers are the victims of a conspiracy and pointed out that most of them have spent more than four years in jail.
However, the prosecution demanded capital punishment for the accused citing it to be a rarest of the rare case.
“We are satisfied with the court judgement. It was a historical decision,” prosecution lawyer Anurag Hooda said.
“It was a strong message to the people who were included in such incident, he added.
“The defence lawyers Rebecca John and Vrinda Grover said they would challenge the sentence in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
More than 100 other managers were injured in the day-long violence that shut the plant for over a month.