47 mins ago
Gurugram Court Grants Bail To Engineer In Manesar Wage Protest
A court in Gurugram gave bail to Aditya Anand, an engineer accused in a workers’ protest case.
The protest happened at Richa Global Exports in Manesar on April 9.
Workers were asking for higher wages because everyday costs were rising.
The judge said asking for better pay and peacefully organising workers is not automatically a crime.
Police said Anand helped encourage workers to attack company officials and police.
However, police had no photograph or CCTV footage showing him at the protest.
They also said he was not in the workers’ WhatsApp group and had sent no suspicious messages.
The court said phone-location data by itself was not enough to prove he was involved.
The court will consider the larger conspiracy allegations during the trial.
A Gurugram sessions court granted bail to 28-year-old engineer Aditya Anand in the Manesar protest violence case.
The court said demanding higher wages and democratically mobilising workers are not offences in themselves.
Anand was arrested on June 5 while already in custody in a separate Noida labour-agitation case.
Police alleged he helped incite attacks, but acknowledged there was no CCTV, photograph, incriminating message or seized phone linking him to the protest site.
The court said mobile-tower data alone could not establish complicity and that the conspiracy allegations would be decided at trial.
- Who
- Aditya Anand, a 28-year-old engineer, was granted bail; police had accused him in connection with the workers’ protest violence.
- What
- The Gurugram sessions court granted Anand bail in the April 9 Manesar labour-protest case.
- Where
- The case concerns a workers’ protest at Richa Global Exports in Industrial Model Township Manesar, and Anand was lodged in Luksar Jail in Gautam Buddha Nagar when police arrested him in the case.
- When
- The bail order was issued on Saturday; Anand was arrested in the Manesar case on June 5, after the April 9 incident.
- Why
- The court found no prima facie incriminating evidence, no recovery was pending, and held that mobile-tower data alone could not establish complicity.
Defense and Court’s Findings
Prosecution’s Allegations
Anand’s alleged role
Defense and Court’s Findings
The defense refuted the allegations, and the court found no prima facie incriminating evidence linking Anand to the violence.
Prosecution’s Allegations
The prosecution alleged that Anand played an active role in a conspiracy to incite workers to attack company management and police with an intention to kill.
Evidence connecting him to the protest
Defense and Court’s Findings
The court noted that there was no CCTV footage or photograph of Anand at the site, no incriminating messages, no WhatsApp-group membership and no seizure of his phone.
Prosecution’s Allegations
Police relied in part on mobile-phone tower data that placed Anand near the protest site between April 7 and 9.
Meaning of the labour mobilisation
Defense and Court’s Findings
The court said raising wage demands and democratically mobilising workers because of rising living costs are not offences in themselves.
Prosecution’s Allegations
The prosecution’s case concerns alleged violence, conspiracy and incitement connected to the April 9 incident; whether a conspiracy existed will be decided at trial.
Key facts
- Accused
- Aditya Anand, 28, an NIT Jamshedpur engineering graduate and Java developer at Genpact.
- Court
- Gurugram sessions court, presided over by Additional Sessions Judge Dr Gagan Geet Kaur.
- Incident
- Violence during a workers’ protest at Richa Global Exports in IMT Manesar on April 9.
- Arrest
- Anand was arrested in the Manesar case on June 5 while already in judicial custody in a separate Noida protest case.
- Charges
- The FIRs include attempt to murder, rioting, assault, criminal conspiracy and damage to public property provisions.
- Evidence noted by court
- Police acknowledged there was no CCTV footage or photograph placing Anand at the site, no incriminating messages, and no seizure of his mobile phone.
- Court’s observation
- Demanding wage increases because of rising living costs and democratically encouraging workers to seek them is not itself an offence.
Quotes
Dr Gagan Geet Kaur
Additional Sessions Judge at the Gurugram sessions court
“Even for the sake of arguments, if he is bringing awareness among illiterate labour class by telling their rights, pursuing them to raise voice to increase their wages in a demo-cratoc (sic) way, how it could be an offence?”
indianexpress.com
“Whether the incident of 09.04.2026 was result of alleged conspiracy of accused persons or for some other reasons/forces behind it, would be matter of trial. No useful purpose will be served to keep him behind the bar.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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