Maoist links case: SC stays Bombay HC order acquitting former DU Professor G N Saibaba and four others
The Supreme Court has stayed the Bombay High Court order acquitting ex-Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba and four others in connection with alleged Maoist links in a special hearing today.
Professor GN Saibaba and four others were discharged yesterday by the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court.
Hearing on a plea of the State of Maharashtra, Supreme Court suspended the impugned judgment and order of the High Court. The bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and Bela M. Trivedi observed that the offences involved are very serious in nature and the accused were convicted after detailed appreciation of evidence.
The Supreme Court noted that the High Court has not considered the merits. It discharged the accused only on the ground that sanction was invalid and based on some material without entering the merits of the case.
The top court also sought responses from GN Saibaba and the other accused on a plea moved by the Maharashtra government against the High Court order and listed the matter for hearing on December 8.
Arrested in 2014, all the accused were booked under several sections of the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC).
