The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Quantum of sentence to be pronounced today
THE GURGAON District Court on Friday postponed the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence for the 31 convicted in the Maruti violence case to Saturday at 4 pm. The violence that broke out at the company’s Manesar plant in July 2012 led to the death of an HR manager and injured 90 others.
Over 145 workers had been arrested after the incident, and the court, on Friday, acquitted 117 of them. Among the others, 18 were charged with minor offences such as rioting and 13 were charged with murder.
During the hearing on Friday, Additional District Sessions Judge, R P Goyal, heard arguments, with the prosecution arguing for the death penalty for the 13 charged under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC, and seven years imprisonment for the others. “We have requested for capital punishment on the grounds that it is one of the rarest of rare cases. For the others, the maximum punishment for causing grievous hurt is seven years’ imprisonment, so that is what we have made a case for,” said Public Prosecutor Anurag Hooda.
The defence, however, asking for life, instead of death sentence for the convicted 13 and immediate release of the others “on the basis of sentence undergone”. “We have argued that the case of death penalty is made out only if the state is able to show that there are aggravating circumstances of the crime, no mitigating circumstances as far as the criminal is concerned, only then the rarest of rare rules can be applied,” said Defence Counsel Rebecca John.
She also said, “It was our argument that as far as the aggravating circumstances of the crime is concerned, the state placed no fact. We placed facts of mitigating circumstances of each of the accused and argued that there was no case to invoke the rarest of rare principle. We will be moving the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well.”
The Workers’ Unions has also postponed their meeting to decide on the future course of action from Friday to Saturday.