The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday acquitted former Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba and five others in a Maoist links case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The bench said that the prosecution could not prove the case against the accused beyond “reasonable doubt”. It also said aside the life sentences awarded to Prof. Saibaba, Mahesh Tirki, Hem Mishra, Pandu Narote, Vijay Tirki and Prashant Rahi, by a sessions court in 2017.
A Bombay High Court bench had acquitted Prof. Saibaba and the five other accused on October 14, 2022 as well, but the Supreme Court stayed the verdict and asked for the case to be heard afresh. Even now, the Maharashtra government approached the Supreme Court within hours of the Nagpur Bench judgment, seeking an urgent hearing after it failed to convince the High Court to stay the implementation of the judgment.
Noting that the prosecution had failed to “establish any legal seizure or any incriminating material against the accused”, the court said, “The trial court judgment is not sustainable in the hands of law. We, therefore, allow the appeals and set aside the impugned judgment. All the accused stand acquitted.”
Prof. Saibaba was arrested on May 19, 2014, while he was on his way home from Delhi University, by a joint team of the Maharashtra police, Andhra Pradesh police, and the Intelligence Bureau. He has been lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail since then. A sessions court in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra in 2017 convicted Prof. Saibaba and five other accused for indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country. They were also held guilty of possessing Naxalite literature to circulate it among underground Naxalites.
Prof. Saibaba’s wife Vasantha Kumari welcomed the verdict. “It feels like a huge relief, but we don’t know what to expect right now. He was acquitted in 2022 as well, but the decision was challenged. Till the time he comes back home here, we will remain anxious,” she said in Delhi.
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