Mumbai News

GN Saibaba acquitted in Maoist links case, Bombay HC orders immediate release – Hindustan Times

The Bombay high court of Frida acquitted former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court also ordered his immediate release from jail, news agency PTI reported. Wheelchair-bound Saibaba is currently lodged at the Nagpur central prison. The English professor was first arrested in 2014.

A division bench of Justice Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare allowed the appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting him and sentencing him to life imprisonment. The bench also allowed the appeals of five other convicts in the case and acquitted them. The other five convicts are Mahesh Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote, Hem Keshwdatta Mishra, Prashant Rahi and Vijay Nan Tirki. Narote died in August this year.

The bench directed for the convicts to be released immediately from jail unless they are accused in any other case.

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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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Poulomi Ghosh is a journalist with Hindustan Times, New Delhi.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/gn-saibaba-acquitted-in-maoist-links-case-bombay-hc-orders-immediate-release-101665725849121.html