Quantum of sentence to be announced today

After hearing arguments from the defence as well as prosecution, additional district and sessions judge R P Goyal on Friday reserved the order on the quantum of sentence to 31 workers convicted in the 2012 Maruti factory violence.

The quantum of punishment for the workers convicted for violence in the Maruti factory at Manesar in 2012 is expected to be announced on Saturday 4.00 pm.

The hearing on sentencing of punishments started at 2.00 pm on Friday, with both the defence and prosecution providing their final arguments.

On March 10, the District Court convicted 31 workers and acquitted 117 out of 148 workers who had been booked.

While 13 workers were held guilty of murder under Sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code, 18 were convicted for causing injuries, rioting and destruction of property under Sections 323, 427, 147 and 148.

The accused convicted for murder include Ram Mehar, Sarabjit Singh, Ramvilas, Sandeep Dhillon, Pavan Kumar, Sohan Kumar, Pradip Kumar, Ajmer Singh, Jia Lal, Pradeep Gujjar, Amarjeet Kapoor, Dhanraj Bhambi and Yogesh Kumar.

The prosecution demanded for death penalty for the murder convicts.

"The case of death of Awanish Kumar Dev falls under rarest of rare crimes. He was beaten brutally by the convicted workers and then left to die in the raging fire," said district attorney Lal Singh.

The defence team, represented by senior lawyer Vrinda Grover and Rebecca John, opposed death penalty to the 13 convicts and sought for their release.

The defence pointed out lack of proper evidence used to identify the convicted workers.

The lawyers highlighted how poor evidences had resulted in acquittal of 117 workers.

Large scale violence and destruction occurred at the Maruti factory in Manesar on July 18, 2012, after a group of workers went on a rampage reportedly due to major differences with the management.

The uncontrolled aggression by the workers resulted in a loss of more than Rs 1,000 crore at the factory.

The incident notably led to the death of Awanish Kumar Dev, General Manager (Human Resources), who was burnt alive by a violent mob. Severe injuries were also caused to 90 other management workers.

The incident subsequently resulted in the arrest of 148 Maruti workers, who were subjected to legal trial for more than four years.