The Supreme Court on Friday allowed bail to two of the 147 jailed Maruti Suzuki workers in custody in connection with 2012 violence at the car manufacturer's Manesar plant in Haryana where a senior executive was burnt alive.
A bench of Justices M.B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit granted bail to Sunil Kumar and Kanwaljeet Singh, natives of Jhajjar and Hisar districts.
They had moved the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed their bail application in a case in which they also face murder charge for the killing of Human Resources Manager Awanish Kumar Dev.
During the hearing, Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the prosecution failed to produce even a single witness against them.
"Prosecution has produced only one witness and even he has not recognised them as a part of the attacking mob. There is no evidence against them," Ms. Grover said.
The apex court had on January 30 given two weeks to the Haryana government to respond as to why the workers should not be granted bail.
The Punjab and Haryana High court had rejected their bail observing "the incident is a most unfortunate occurrence which has lowered the reputation of India in the estimation of the world. Foreign investors are not likely to invest money in India out of fear of labour unrest"
