High court admits appeals of 13 convicts for hearing

ON MARCH 18, A GURGAON TRIAL COURT HAD AWARDED LIFE SENTENCE TO THE ACCUSED IN CONNECTION WITH THE MURDER OF A MARUTI SUZUKI MANAGER

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday admitted appeals of 13 people sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of a Maruti Suzuki manager, who was killed after violence and rioting at India’s largest carmaker’s plant in Manesar in 2012.

On March 18,2017, a Gurgaon trial court had awarded life sentence to the accused.

The petitioners’ lawyer Arshdeep Singh Cheema said that four appeals of 13 accused have been admitted for hearing as per its turn and fine imposed by the trial court has been stayed.

Those who have appealed are Yogesh Kumar, Amarjeet Singh, Sandeep, Suresh Kumar, Dhanraj Bhambi, Ajmer Singh, Ram Mehar, Ram Bilas, Sarabjit Singh, Pawan Kumar, Pradeep Kumar among others.

They have been held guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 436 (rioting), 427 (destruction of property), and 325 (mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Eighteen others, who were booked on charges of voluntarily causing hurt, destruction of property, rioting and rioting armed with deadly weapons, were convicted.

They are yet to file appeals. As many as thirty-one workers were convicted and 117 acquitted on March 10 by the trial court.

Awanish Kumar Dev, general manager (human resources) of Maruti Suzuki, was burned to death and several executives injured in the violence in the car plant, 20 km from Gurgaon city, allegedly triggered by workers on July 18, 2012.

Violence ensued after a tussle between workers and the management over various demands including registration of a trade union at the Manesar plant.