The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday moved the Supreme Court against the acquittal of former Prof G.N. Saibaba, merely hours after the Bombay High Court ordered his immediate release in a case related to his alleged Maoist links.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before the court of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud for immediate listing of the matter.
Since the mentioning was done at 4 pm, coupled with the fact that the matter was not listed before Justice Chandrachud and he had not seen the papers, he offered listing of the matter on Monday, subject to the orders of Chief Justice of India (CJI) U.U. Lalit.
On SG’s request, Justice Chandrachud gave liberty to the State of Maharashtra to mention the matter before the Registrar to take suitable instructions from the CJI for listing of the matter tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, the Bombay High Court had acquitted former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case.
The Nagpur Bench of Justice Rohit Deoand and Justice Anil Pansare rendered the judgement, allowing an appeal filed by Saibaba, which challenged a 2017 decision of the trial court convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
A Sessions Court in Gadchiroli had, in March 2017, convicted Saibaba for alleged Maoist links and for indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country.
While the case was being heard by the lower court in 2017, the public prosecutor had said “Saibaba was the deputy joint secretary and there is a speech of him in which he said, “Naxalism is the only way and denounces the democratic government setup. All these videos were played out in the court.”
The prosecutor had claimed that Saibaba was in contact with Maoists from various countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka.
A sessions court in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district convicted Saibaba and others in March 2017 for alleged Maoist affiliations and engaging in actions that amounted to waging war against the nation. Other defendants included a journalist and a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Under various provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the court held GN Saibaba and the others guilty.
Saibaba was in jail for his alleged links with banned extreme left organisations. While he was granted bail after his initial arrest in 2014, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 for connections with Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its frontal organisation, the banned Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF).
Despite his repeated denial that he had nothing to do with the banned organisation, he was charged under Sections 13, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the UAPA and Section 120B IPC.
He is currently lodged at Nagpur Central Prison, and will be released, if not required in another case