GN Saibaba acquitted in Maoist links case, Bombay HC orders immediate release
Oct 14, 2022 11:27 AM IST
Apart from GN Saibaba, five other convicts in the case have been acquitted by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court in the Maoist link case. One of them died this year.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case, and ordered his immediate release from jail.
A division bench of Justice Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare allowed the appeal filed by GN Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting him and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
GN Saibaba, who is wheelchair-bound due to a physical disability, is currently lodged at the Nagpur central prison.
The bench also allowed the appeal of five other convicts in the case and acquitted them. One of the five died pending hearing of the appeal.
The bench directed for the convicts to be released forthwith from jail unless they are accused in any other case.
Saibaba’s wife Vasanta Kumari said, “He is an intellectual and a teacher. He was framed in the case and because of spending Seven years in jail, his health has deteriorated and his limbs are not working properly. At present, my brother-in-law is in Nagpur to complete the formalities.”
In March 2017, a sessions court in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district convicted Saibaba and others, including a journalist and a Jawaharlal Nehru University student for alleged Maoist links and for indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country. The court had held Saibaba and the others guilty under various provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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