Court to decide on quantum of punishment in Maruti violence case tomorrow

The quantum of punishment in a case of violence and rioting at Maruti Suzuki plant at Manesar, 20 kms from Gurgaon city, will be delivered on Saturday at 4 pm.

After arguments of the prosecution and the defence over quantum of punishment concluded, the court of additional district and sessions judge R K Goyal on Friday reserved its order, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.

A Gurgaon court had, on March 10, convicted 31 employees of Maruti-Suzuki India Limited, including 13 of murder, in connection with the violence at the automobile giant's Manesar plant in Haryana in 2012 in which a senior manager died of asphyxiation.

The judge had acquitted 117 of the 148 employees charge-sheeted in the case for want of evidence.

Violence had erupted at the facility in August 2012 over disciplinary action against an employee during which agitated workers had gone on the rampage, torching a part of the factory, setting senior human resource manager Awanish Kumar Dev on fire, and beating up and bludgeoning with rods 100 others. Those wounded included some foreigners and policemen.

The court had convicted 13 persons of the murder of Dev, while others were pronounced guilty of having committed various other offences during the violence.

The massive plant, which rolled out over 5 lakh cars a year, was shut down for a month following the unrest.