The Bombay High Court on Tuesday acquitted former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and set aside his life sentence in the Maoist links case. Saibaba and five others were in 2017 convicted on terrorism and criminal conspiracy charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act — UAPA. They were found to have links with Maoists.
A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes said it was acquitting all the accused as the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt against them. It also held as "null and void" the sanction procured by the prosecution to charge the accused under provisions of the stringent UAPA.
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Who Is GN Saibaba
GN Saibaba is a former DU professor and was lodged in Nagpur Central Jail in Maharashtra. In DU, he used to teach at the Ram Lal Anand College of the South Campus. Saibaba was born in Andhra Pradesh's Amalapuram in 1967. He comes from an agrarian family.
Saibaba had been an activist for much of his life. The Times of India in 2013 reported he "was practically a full-time activist" with the All India People´s Resistance Forum (AIPRF) until the birth of his daughter. It further reported that he "cut his political teeth with the Radical Students' Union (RSU)" in his student days.
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The AIPRF later evolved into Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF). Both RDF and RSU are believed to be fronts of banned terrorist organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist) — CPI-Maoist.
The case against GN Saibaba
GN Saibaba was convicted for criminal conspiracy, criminal activity, and for being associated with terrorist organisations in 2017 along with five others.
While Saibaba and four others were sentenced for life, a sixth convict was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.
The court found that all six were members of CPI-Maoist and its frontal organisation RDF.
Saibaba and five others were convicted under IPC section dealing with criminal conspiracy and UAPA sections dealing with unlawful activity, conspiracy, punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation, membership of a terrorist organisation, and support to terrorist organisation, according to reports.
