Former Maruti worker seeks to defend the ‘wrongly accused’

Karambeer Singh, who is now pursuing law, was accused of arson and rioting at the Maruti Manesar plant in 2012. He was acquitted by the district court in the verdict on March 10.

“The law has failed me. I want to make sure it does not fail others,” Karambeer Singh, who was acquitted in the Maruti Manesar plant violence case, after spending three years in jail, said.

Karambeer Singh at the district court on Friday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Singh, who is now pursuing law, was accused of arson and rioting at the Maruti plant in 2012. A resident of Mullana, 30 kilometers from Ambala, he was one of the workers acquitted by the district court in the verdict on March 10.

“If not for the lawyers, I would have been in jail for another year. I owe them this gratitude and want to return their favour by becoming a lawyer myself, and get justice for others,” Singh said.

On Friday, he was eagerly waiting to know the quantum of punishment for his colleagues who were “wrongly charged”, according to him. However, he has to wait till Saturday for the sentence.

Karambeer had applied for the job at Maruti Manesar plant after a few of his schoolmates got job offers from the auto firm. After receiving bail in March 2015 after nearly three years in jail, Karambeer did not return to be a factory worker. Instead, he chose to pursue law from a private college and is currently in the first year of the course. He is also looking to finance his education by finding a job and working simultaneously.

His only fault, he claims, was that he was one of the last workers to leave the factory premises as the utility department was the last one to be affected during the violence in 2012. People noticed his presence and he was “wrongly framed” in the case, he said.

Karambeer is the son of a daily-wage earner and has three sisters who are yet to be married. Singh said he went ahead with the law course after getting his family’s backing.