13 CONVICTED FOR MARUTI HR OFFICIAL KILLING DURING PROTEST

The Gurgaon distric court has convicted 31 workers of various offences committed during a riot at a Maruti Suzuk factory in Manesar, Haryana nearly five years ago.

While additional district and sessions judge RP Goyal pro nounced 13 men guilty of mur dering Maruti Suzuki human resources manager Awanish Dev on Friday, 18 others held responsible for rioting, destroy ing property, causing grievous injury and criminal trespass. As many as 117 co-accused were acquitted of all charges. The punishment is expected to be pronounced on March 17.

On July 18, 2012, a dispute between the Maruti Suzuki man agement and union representa tives turned violent – resulting in Dev’s murder and the arrest o 148 workers. The incident a Maruti and the legal proceedings that followed became a bench mark case for corporate India who called on courts to deliver exemplary punishment to the guilty, as well as trade unionists who accused the Maruti man agement of exploiting the crimi nal justice system to resolve a long-pending labour dispute Vikas Pahwa, lawyer for Marut Suzuki said the conviction of 31 accused vindicated the com pany’s position that workers had rioted in large numbers.

However, the defence team held a different view. “The acquittal of 117 workers shows that the substratum of the case has collapsed,” said Rebecca John, counsel for the accused