A court in Manesar, Gurgaon, has granted bail to a labour leader arrested in connection with a labour protest. The judge said the accused was illegally detained for a month despite there being no evidence against him.
The judge said that demanding a wage hike is not a crime. The judge said that if saying ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ is a crime, then the current system should be ashamed.
On April 9, protesting workers in Gurgaon took to the streets demanding higher wages and permanent jobs. The next day, factory workers in Noida protested with the same demands. Thousands of workers joined the protests in industrial areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, near Delhi.
The situation started to have a huge impact on the public. The Uttar Pradesh police carried out a massive raid. The workers were arrested.
On Monday, Gurgaon Additional City Sessions Judge Dr. Gagan Geet Kaur granted bail to Ajit Singh, general secretary of the Belsonica employees’ union, an auto parts company in Manesar.
The government lawyer admitted that Ajit Singh was not present at the scene on the day of the protest.
However, the police alleged that he had hatched a conspiracy before the incident. He was also accused of inciting the workers by posting messages on a WhatsApp group and addressing a public meeting.
The left-wing trade union CITU welcomed the bail order. In a press statement, CITU called the Haryana court’s order a “victory of justice”. It also said that a “conspiracy theory” has been spread only in the interests of the capitalist owners. The Manesar police are responsible for this.
The CITU statement said that during Monday’s hearing, the judge verbally commented that “if chanting ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ is considered a crime, then this current system should be ashamed.”
CITU Haryana General Secretary Joy Bhagwan has demanded the unconditional release of all the workers arrested on the basis of two FIRs filed in connection with the Manesar protests, and has called for strict action against the police officers responsible for these false cases.
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