[Reader-list] Appeal from Jail

[Asit Das]

*Appeal from Jail*
*Stand in Solidarity with us for Justice*
*MARUTI SUZUKI WORKERS UNION*
*(Reg. No. 1923, IMT Manesar)*
We are workers of Maruti Suzuki, who are behind bars since 18.07.2012 as
part of a
conspiracy, and without any just investigation. 147 of us are inside
Gurgaon Central Jail.
Since July, 2500 permanent and contract workers have been terminated from
our jobs. In
these past more than 8 months, we have sent our appeal to almost all
administrative
officials and elected representatives, including Chief Minister Haryana and
the Prime
Minister of India. But neither have our appeals been heard nor have we been
granted bail.
The Chargesheet filed by the Haryana police in the Court has no names of
any witnesses,
and hence is incomplete. This is only a glimpse of the continuous attack on
our
democratic rights on arbitrary grounds, and we see how law is bent towards
siding with
company owners. Many of our fellow workers are without parents or
guardians, and have
been shouldering the entire burden of the household. Many workers’ wives
were pregnant
when we were put behind bars. And even when the time of their delivery
came, the
workers were not granted bail, or even parole custody. We do not know under
what
circumstances their deliveries took place. We give a few instances:
1. One of our fellow workers, Sumit s/o Late Shri Chattar Singh, has no one
in the
family except his wife. Even then, when she gave delivery on 6.12.2012 in a
hospital in Gurgaon, the bail plea or parole custody plea of Sumit was
rejected.
2. One of our fellow workers, Vijendra s/o Dalel Singh was the lone earning
member
in his family. His mother stays sick at most times and was not able to
accompany
or help her daughter-in-law when she gave her delivery on 10.01.2013 in a
hospital in Jhajjhar. Even then, Vijendra was neither granted bail nor let
off on
parole.
3. In the case of one of our fellow workers, Ramvilas s/o Late Shri Silak
Ram, his
grandmother, who fell sick after Ramvilas was put behind the bars as he was
too
affectionate to her, passed away on 26.02.2013. Ramvilas was not even let
off on
parole to meet his grandmother on her death-bed or to attend the funeral.
After few
days when it was the time of his wife’s delivery, his request for bail or
parole
custody was turned down. It caused a mental shock to him.
4. One of our fellow workers, Prempal, s/o Shri Chhiddilal, had the
responsibility to
look after his family alone, as his family’s livelihood depended entirely
depended
on his earnings. When he was thrown into jail arbitrarily, his two years old
daughter mourning her father’s absence, fell sick and breathed her last.
This
wound was yet to heal, when Prempal’s mother aggrieved by the imprisonment
of
her son and the death of her granddaughter fell sick and passed away. But
even
after this, Prempal’s meager one-week parole leave permission was rejected
and
he was allowed only a one-hour parole visit on the next day of his
grandmother’s
funeral. His wife, now alone in the house and mourning the death of her
daughter
and Prempal’s mother, fell sick and had to be hospitalized. She is still
unwell and
there is no one to look after her. It has caused terrible mental agony for
Prempal.
5. One of our fellow workers, Rahul, s/o Shri Vinod Ratan, was the only son
of his
parents, along with a sister. His sister got married on 16.11.2012. But he
was not
even granted parole custody to attend the ceremony for kanyadan. The
marriage of
the sole daughter took place in an environment of sadness, and Rahul is yet
to
recover from this wound.
6. One of our fellow workers, Subhash, s/o Shri Lal Chand, was very close
to his
grandmother. After his imprisonment, his grandmother almost stopped taking
food
and all the time used to think of his grandson, and passed away in grief
some days
later. But Subhash was not allowed even to attend her funeral on parole
custody.
These and many other incidents that go on daily in our lives are enough to
fill up the
pages of an entire book.
About ourselves: our identity, family and work
We all are children of workers and peasants. Our parents, with huge effort
and sacrifice,
ensured our 10th standard, 12th standard or ITI education, helped us stand
on our feet to do
something worthy in our life and help our family in need.
We all joined Maruti Suzuki company after passing the written and viva-voce
tests
conducted by the company and on the terms and conditions set by the
company. Before
our joining, the company carried out all kinds of investigations, like
police verification of
our residential proof or whether we had criminal records! Neither of us had
any previous
criminal record.
When we joined the company, the Manesar plant of the company was under
construction.
At that stage we foreseeing our future with the progress of the plant
invested huge energy
and diligence to lift the Manesar plant of the company to a new height.
When the entire
world was struggling under the economic crisis, we worked extra two hours
daily to
materialize a production of 10.5 lakh cars in a year. We were the sole
creators of the
increasing profit of the company, and today we are implicated as criminals
and
murderers, and those who engage in ‘mindless arson’!
Almost all of us are from poor worker or peasant families which has been
dependent on
our job. We were struggling to weave dreams for our and our family’s
future, such as of
our own homes, of the better education for our brothers-sisters and
children so that they
could have a bright future and ensure a comfortable life for their parents
who took the
pain to bring after them.
But in return, we were being exploited inside the company in all possible
ways, such as:
1. At work, if any worker was unwell, he was not allowed to go to the
dispensary and
was forced to continue with the work in that condition.
2. We were not allowed to go to the toilet, the permission was there only
at tea or
lunch time.
3. Management used to behave with the workers very rudely with abusive
language,
and used to even slap or make them murga in order to punish them.
4. If a worker was forced to take 3-4 days leave because of his ill health
or some
accident or other serious problem in his family or because of the death of a
relative, then half of his salary which amounted to almost Rs. 9000 used to
be
deducted by the company.
Because of this continuous exploitation, the workers felt the need of
forming a Union.
Maruti Suzuki company was against the idea of a union, and because of that,
three strikes
of the workers took place in 2011. After the third strike, thirty fellow
workers of ours
were forced to resign as they had participated in the strikes. But at last
in February 2012
we were successful in registering our Union, in which the then HR Manager,
Late Shri
Awanish Kumar Dev, helped us. The company was angry with Mr. Dev because of
his
helpful attitude towards us and as a result, Mr. Dev resigned from the
company. But the
company did not accept the resignation of him as they were afraid that
their misdeeds
could get exposed. To crush the union and to remove Mr. Dev from its way,
the company
with a previously chalked out plan called the bouncers and hooligans in the
factory
premises on 18th July 2012 and materialized the ‘accident’.
The present situation of the workers inside the Jail
We, 147 workers in total, were thrown behind the bars without any just
enquiry, and we
are now here for more than 8 months. We are under severe psychological
stress inside the
jail. Many of us are suffering from diseases like tuberculosis, piles,
mental imbalance and
several other diseases.
Almost all of us were earning members in our family and we are in jail now.
Due to this
our families are approaching the situation of dying of hunger. The
education of the
female members of the family and the children have stopped, which are
otherwise their
fundamental rights. The future of ours and our families has plunged into
darkness. All the
members of our families are mentally too disturbed. We are afraid lest they
not take any
wrong step because of the mental pressure.
The present situation of the terminated workers outside the jail
Apart from putting 147 workers behind the bars, the company terminated the
service of
almost 2500 regular and contract workers without any domestic enquiry and
these
workers are unemployed now. The condition of their families is also very
serious. The
situation is that they don’t have any proof of work experience, their
career is doomed and
whoever of them comes forward in our support, he is arrested and jailed
immediately (the
arrest of Imaan Khan, who was a member of Provisional Working Committee of
MSWU
and whose name was not there in the FIR, Charge-sheet or SIT report; also
the names of
65 workers are under non-bailable arrest warrants). None of the jailed
workers or the
terminated workers outside have any occupation to sustain the livelihood of
people
dependent on them and it is putting everyone under mental pressure. Still,
against all
these odds, the struggle for justice of our fellow workers outside is
giving us hope and
energy behind the bars. In this struggle that has gone outside the factory
in society now
for more than 8 months, news of the solidarity that we have received from
various parts
of the country from workers, toilers and common people has continued to
give us hope,
and enthused our spirits.
There is no door of any elected representative that we have not knocked in
the space of
these 8 months. We’ve taken our appeal for justice from the State
Industries minister to
the Chief Minister, but the government is bent backwards in trying to take
side with the
company management and owners rather than listen to us workers. We appeal
to the
government for the last time, that before we are forced into a situation of
committing
suicide or killing others, we are given justice which is due to us.
We hope to have your solidarity and your opinion.
Maruti Suzuki Workers Union
(The entire Union body of MSWU is behind the bars of Gurgaon Central Jail,
where
a total of 147 workers continue to languish without any justice, or even
bail. This
letter of appeal has been sent from there.)
Contact: marutiworkerstruggle at gmail.com