‘Raising wage demands not offence’: Gurugram court grants bail to engineer in Manesar labour protest
The court said that prima facie there was “no incriminating evidence” against Anand and noted that nothing was to be recovered from him and that he had no criminal background.
Aditya Anand was arrested in the Manesar case on June 5 on a production warrant while he was lodged in Luksar Jail in Gautam Buddha Nagar. (File photo)
Raising demands for a wage hike and democratically mobilising workers to seek salary increases due to rising living costs is not an offence, a Gurugram sessions court observed on Saturday while granting bail to 28-year-old Aditya Anand in connection with the April 9 violence during a workers’ protest at Richa Global Exports in IMT Manesar.
In the order, Additional Sessions Judge Dr Gagan Geet Kaur directed the release of Anand, an NIT Jamshedpur engineering graduate, who was already in judicial custody in Uttar Pradesh in connection with a separate case of labour agitation in Noida.
The ruling adds to a sequence of similar orders by Judge Kaur in cases arising from the Manesar labour unrest. In an order dated May 18 granting bail to accused Ajit Singh, she had similarly observed that demanding higher wages is not an offence.
Anand was arrested in the Manesar case on June 5 on a production warrant while he was lodged in Luksar Jail in Gautam Buddha Nagar. He had been arrested earlier in connection with the Noida workers’ protest case and was already in judicial custody when Gurugram Police formally arrested him in the Manesar case.
The Manesar case stems from FIRs registered on April 9 at the Industrial Sector 7 Manesar police station under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including attempt to murder, rioting, assault and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Underscoring the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression, the court observed: “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?”
“Raising demand to increase their wages/salary by workers/employees due to rising prices of daily needs and human living condtion is not an offence itself and pursuing them for the same is also not an offence,” it added.
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The court said that prima facie there was “no incriminating evidence” against Anand and noted that nothing was to be recovered from him and that he had no criminal background.
“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,” the judge said.
While the prosecution contended that Anand’s mobile phone was traced near the protest site between April 7 and 9, the court recorded that the investigating officer conceded there was no CCTV footage or photograph showing Anand at the spot.
Police also admitted that Anand was not a member of any WhatsApp group of the protesting workers, had sent no incriminating messages to any co-accused, and that his mobile phone had not even been seized during the probe, the court said.
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The judge observed that mere presence based on tower location data in call detail records cannot establish complicity without independent corroboration.
Earlier, as reported by The Indian Express, the Gurgaon Police had submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court through Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Lalit Dalal, alleging that Anand played an “active role” and conspired to incite workers to attack company management and police “with intention to kill”.
Anand, who worked as a Java developer at Genpact, had strongly refuted the charges in his statement annexed to that status report, alleging that investigating agencies framed him solely because of his association with the labour advocacy group Mazdoor Bigul.
Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana.
Education
- Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020)
- B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019)
Professional Experience
Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features.
Reporting Interests
His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon.
Recent Coverage (2025)
- Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025).
- Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025).
- Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025).
- Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram.
- Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025).
- Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025).
Contact
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