MSI workers protest after court order in 2012 violence case

Factory workers of six plants, including three belonging to car major Maruti Suzuki India, will go on a one-hour tool down strike tonight in order to express resentment over the conviction of workers in the 2012 Manesar plant violence.
Besides, three Maruti Suzuki plants in Gurgaon and Manesar, workers of Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited (SMIPL) and two component joint venture companies Bell Sonica Auto and FMI Automotive Components will participate in the protest.
Maruti Suzuki Mazdoor Sangh, an umbrella organisation of workers in the plants, said the workers were convicted due to false witnesses produced by the government and administration.

"We are very angry and we have decided to go on strike from 9 pm to 10 pm tonignt. Work in all the six plants will remain shut for one hour," Maruti Suzuki Mazdoor Sangh Secretary Kuldeep Jhanghu told PTI.
A Gurgaon court today awarded life sentence to 13 former employees of Maruti-Suzuki India, who it had found guilty of murder in connection with the violence at the automobile giant's Manesar plant in 2012 in which a senior company official had died.
Additional district and session judge RP Goyal granted life sentence to the 13 men, who had been convicted for murder by it earlier.

Of the 18 other ex-workers, who had been convicted of various other offences like violence, rioting and attempt to murder, four have been given a sentence of five years.

Fourteen other convicts would be released after paying a fixed amount of Rs 2,500 as fine.
The court termed these 14 as "undergone accused" as they had already served a jail term of four-and-a-half years, which it felt was enough punishment.
Earlier, 31 workers had been convicted and 117 were acquitted by the court on March 10. Thirteen of the accused were held guilty of murder while the remaining 18 were convicted of violence, rioting and other offences.

Violence had erupted at the facility in August 2012 over disciplinary action against an employee during which agitated workers went on 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 police had arrested 148 workers in connection with the murder.