The Committee for the Defense and Release of GN Saibaba, appealed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, 18 October, to review and reconsider its decision to stay his acquittal along with the 4 co-accused in an alleged ‘maoist links case.'
“We felt that the Bombay High Court Judgment finally did Justice to Saibaba and others who have been incarcerated for the last almost seven years. The reversal of Judgment in great hurry is a reflection on the Justice system in India,” the committee said in a statement.
The Supreme Court on Saturday, 15 October, suspended the Bombay High Court judgment that had discharged Professor GN Saibaba.
The bench of Justices MR Shah and Bela Trivedi also stayed the release of Saibaba — who is 90% disabled — as well as his four co-accused in the matter.
Only a day prior to Saturday’s special sitting, Saibaba and his co-accused had been discharged by the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. The high court had set aside the sessions court judgment convicting them under the UAPA.
“We are deeply worried about his health and further aggravation of his 90% disabilities we appeal to the Supreme Judicial Authority of the country to review and reconsider his case and take the Judgment of Bombay High Court into consideration and acquit him and others in this case. This would restore public confidence in the Justice system of our country,” the statement further read.
‘Stan Swamy and Pandu Narote’s Case Should Not Repeat’
The statement also referred to the prison deaths of Father Stan Swamy and Pandu Narote and said:
“The jails in India have, instead of being reformative places, become punishing places defeating the very purpose of the idea of prison. This is what led to the deaths of Stan Swamy and Mr. Pandu Narote. This should not repeat in the case of Saibaba who has been voicing his concerns on the suffering of the marginalized sections of the society. Such human concerns increasingly lead to humanization of such society.”
Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case and a well known tribal rights activist, suffered from several medical ailments, including Parkinson's disease and died on 5 July 2021 while waiting for medical bail.
Pandu Narote, the fifth co-accused in the same case Saibaba is being incarcerated for, passed away in August 2022 at the age of 33, after reportedly contracting the highly-contagious swine flu. His lawyer Akash Sorde had alleged that his family were kept in the dark about Narote's illness for a long spell by the prison authorities and he too had only learnt about it from external sources.
‘Dissenting Voices a Check Against Arbitrary Power’
The statement, pointing out the court’s judgement which mentioned that Saibaba has a powerful mind, said that:
“Dissenting voices as Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed works as a check against the arbitrary exercise of power by the executive authority; unchecked power is like pressure cooker which can lead to a burst at any time if the dissent is not allowed.”
“The Judiciary must protect the freedoms of the citizens. It has to balance the freedoms of the citizens and power of the State, if they have to err it should be on the side of freedom,” it added.
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