Another convict in the 2012 Manesar Maruti violence case was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday.
Yogesh, one of the 13 Maruti employees sentenced to life imprisonment, is the fourth convict to get relief in the last three months. Senior advocate APS Deol submitted that his client Yogesh had sought bail on the principle of equality as three convicts in the case are already out on bail. The bail applications of the remaining convicts are also likely to be heard in the next few months.
With the relief to Yogesh, seven convicts in the high profile case are now in jail. Two convicts Pawan Dahiya and Jiya Lal had died of electrocution and cancer respectively during their parole period last year.
HR manager murder
The District and Sessions Court in Gurugram had on March 10, 2017 convicted 31 of the 148 accused in the case and acquitted the remaining 117. 13 convicts, including 12 office bearers of the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union, were sentenced. Life imprisonment for the murder of Avnish Kumar Dev, Human Resource Manager of the company. While 14 were acquitted by the court considering the period spent in prison during the trial as the period of sentence, the remaining four were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
In addition to the death of the Human Resource Manager, about 90 officers were also injured in the violence that took place on July 18, 2012.
Rambilas was the first of the 13 convicts who were granted bail in November last year, giving a ray of hope to the rest of the convicts. Suresh and Sandeep were later granted bail on January 18 this year. “We welcome the bail granted to Yogesh. This has been possible because of the legal battles fought by their families, friends and lawyers. We hope the rest will be out on bail soon,” said Khushi Ram, a member of the Maruti Workers Provisional Committee, who is leading the legal battle for the jailed employees.
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