Workers' unions form panel to deal with Maruti issue - The Times of India
"Due to the lockout so many contract workers are now left without work. We want Maruti to resume work as early as possible. Over 100 people were arrested and many of them had no role to play in the violence whatsoever. Our demand is that the innocents among those arrested should be released," said Kuldeep Janghu, general secretary of Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU) Gurgaon plant.
Members of HMS, CITU and AITUC belonging to more than 35 factories took part in the meeting. They said that workers alone were not responsible for the violence on July 18.
Meanwhile, the special investigation team (SIT) of the Gurgaon police recorded the statements of several of the injured Maruti officials who are undergoing treatment in different hospitals.
According to police, on Saturday, the SIT arrested a worker of MSIL's Manesar plant in Jhajjar on the charge of being involved in the July 18 violence.
He was identified as Naveen, resident of Jhajjar. Police produced him before a city court and sent him in 14 days' judicial custody. So far more than 100 workers have been arrested and 10 union leaders are on police remand. Police will produce them in court on August 9.
In a related development, the hearing of four separate petitions in the Maruti case was postponed to Monday. Advocate Rajendra Pathak, counsel for the arrested workers, said: "On Saturday, we were ready for the argument in court, but police took a date from the court for the hearing, which turned out to be Monday. We are demanding that we be allowed to meet workers in jail and the jail superintendent has given in writing that they would allow the lawyer on all working days from 4pm to 5 pm to meet the accused workers."
On Friday, Pathak had submitted the allegations of his clients and their relatives that there had been reports of inhuman treatment of the accused by Gurgaon police. Pathak filed three petitions before judicial magistrate Ambardeep while another was filed by the brother of an accused.