Life has been an everyday struggle for daily wager Tauran Singh for the past three years after his only son and sole breadwinner Bharat Singh, a contract worker at Maruti’s plant in Manesar, was arrested along with 147 others on charges of murder of a senior manager and rioting and arson at the company’s plant in July 2012.
However, with a local court granting regular bail, earlier this week, to Bharat Singh and 76 others, a new ray of hope shines for his family from Mathura.
“The past 32 months since the arrest of Bharat have been the toughest for us. Not just we lost the sole earning member, his arrest led to added financial burden. The frequent visits to Gurgaon, lawyers’ fees and other expenses brought an additional burden of Rs.1.5 lakh on us over these months. I was forced to work as a daily wager at this age and Bharat’s two children had to be withdrawn from school to minimise the expenses,” said 60-year-old Tauran Singh, who earns a meagre Rs.7,000 per month.
But the bail has given a new lease of life to this family.
“We are very happy to know that he would finally be out of jail,” says Tauran. However, he regrets that his son was made to suffer for no fault of his. He claims that Bharat was in his room and was unaware of the riots when a police team raided the premises and arrested him.
The family of another Maruti worker, 40-year-old Vasudev, has a similar tale to tell. As his parents are too old to travel frequently from their native village in Mathura to Gurgaon, Vasudev’s uncle Jal Singh has been keeping track of the case.
“It is a very poor family and Vasudev was the only breadwinner. With no earning member, the family has incurred a debt of over Rs.1 lakh,” said Jal Singh. Vasudev caught tuberculosis during his stay in jail due to unhygienic conditions and the family had moved his bail application on health grounds, but it was then rejected.
