Why acquittal of 117 workers in Maruti factory violence case is momentous

The judgment of the Gurgaon trial court in the Maruti workers case acquitting 117 workers of all charges has unequivocally demolished the foundation of the prosecution case.

18 workers have been convicted only for grievous hurt and trespass. 13 workers have been convicted for murder.

What is important to understand is that these 13 are the office bearers of the union and the main leaders. They have been implicated in the case and management witnesses have deposed against them because they stand for rights of workers.

They are paying the price of championing the cause of workers. One man very regrettably lost his life in the fire at the Manesar plant.

But there is less than tenuous evidence to link any of these 13 workers to the fire.

The legal defence team for the Maruti workers is confident of mounting a very strong challenge to their conviction in appeal before the high court. 

The judgment vindicates our stand that a very large number of workers were falsely implicated to prejudice the public opinion and project an exaggerated and alarming version of the incident.

The question to ask today is who will be held accountable for the incarceration that these 117 suffered for more than two years in jail.

Will the police officers who arrested them on the dictates of Maruti Suzuki company be held answerable by the law? For the 13 convicted for murder we shall fight and we shall win.

The legal defence team comprises senior advocates Rebecca Mammen John, RS Chema and I, with stellar support from Harsh Bora, Ratna Appnender and Tarannum Cheema.

(The above post was reproduced from the author's Facebook page.)