The Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench on Tuesday, 5 March acquitted former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and five other accused in an alleged Maoist links case.
A division bench of Justices Vinay G Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes stated that the prosecution has failed to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. It also held that the sanction of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against the accused as "null and void" – and that the entire prosecution was "vitiated" on account of the invalid sanction.
"It (the prosecution) failed to establish the seizure of incriminating material from the house of accused No 6 Saibaba. It also failed to prove electronic evidence in terms of provisions of the Indian Evidence Act and Information Technology Act,” the order stated.
The court on 5 March was hearing an appeal filed by Saibaba, Mahesh Tirki, Hem Mishra, Pandu Narote, and Prashant Rahi (all sentenced for life), and Vijay Tirki (sentenced to 10 years). Narote died after contracting swine flu on 25 August 2022 in Nagpur GMCH hospital.
This is the second time in 15 months that Saibaba has been acquitted in the UAPA case. In October 2022, another HC bench had acquitted him, however the order was stayed and subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court.