A Gurgaon court has sentenced 13 people to life imprisonment on Saturday in connection with the murder of a Maruti Suzuki manager, Awanish Kumar Dev, who was killed after violence and rioting at India’s largest carmaker’s plant in Manesar in 2012.
On March 10, Additional Sessions Judge R.P. Goyal had held them guilty of murder, attempt to murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.
The court had pronounced 31 of the 148 workers who had stood trial guilty on March 10. Four were jailed for five years out of the 18 others who were convicted of rioting but not murder.
According to a report by The Times of India, Three-year jail terms were given to the rest 14 of them and released later in the day from Gurgaon's Bhondsi jail after paying fines of Rs 2,000 each as they had already spent that time in prison. The four workers sentenced to five years need to serve around a year more in jail.
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"The four people who were on the first floor where the general manager died due to the fire were awarded five years' imprisonment," Special public prosecutor Anurag Hooda told the newspaper.
However, workers' representative Vrinda Grover said that they will file an appeal against the convictions before the Punjab and Haryana high court to secure justice from the superior court.
The violence on August 18, 2012 broke out over wage issues when a group of employees allegedly torched a section of MSIL facility which claimed the life of Dev, a resident of South Delhis Malviya Nagar.
A total of 148 workers were arrested and charged with the murder of Dev, a resident of South Delhis Malviya Nagar.
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More than 100 other employees, including some foreign nationals, suffered injuries.
The district administration imposed CrPC section 144 near the civil court and Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar, prohibiting gathering of more than five people.
Assembly of more than five people has also been prohibited in the 500 metres radius of MSIL plant and Gurgaon court.
(With inputs from PTI)
