Bombay HC acquits G N Saibaba in Maoist links case, says application of UAPA ‘invalid’

G N Saibaba with his wife Vasantha outside Nagpur Jail. File pic/PTI

Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, who was arrested in 2014 for alleged Maoist links, was acquitted by the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday. The court held that the application of various sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the case was "invalid".

The order came after Saibaba moved the HC challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting him and five other accused. Of the five, Pandu Narote died during the trial. The HC also acquitted the remaining four - Mahesh Tikri, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, and Vijay Tikri.

Saibaba, a human rights activist who suffered paralysis due to polio and is wheelchair-bound, was arrested in February 2014, and convicted and sentenced to life term in 2017. He is lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail. He had challenged the order that same year, but the HC allowed it recently.

The bench observed that when the trial court took cognisance of the charge sheet in 2014, there was no sanction to prosecute Saibaba under the UAPA. It was invoked against him later in 2015. As per the procedure, an independent authority needs to review the evidence in a case and submit a report stating if provisions of the UAPA can be invoked against the accused. The court found that the independent authority's report in the case against Saibaba did not mention the reasoning behind recommending the application of the Act.

Also Read: Maharashtra: Three held with fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 2 lakh in Pune

"In view of the findings recorded by us, we hold that the proceedings in sessions trials...are null and void in the absence of valid sanction under Section 45(1) of the UAPA, and the common judgment impugned is liable to be set aside, which we do order," it stated. The HC bench comprising Justice Rohit Deo and Justice Anil Pansare stated, "The Siren Song that the end justifies the means, and that the procedural safeguards are subservient to the overwhelming need to ensure that the accused is prosecuted and punished, must be muzzled by the voice of Rule of Law. Any aberration shall only be counter productive, since empirical evidence suggests that departure from the due process of law fosters an ecosystem in which terrorism burgeons and provides fodder to vested interests whose singular agenda is to propagate false narratives."

"While the war against terror must be waged by the State with unwavering resolve, and every legitimate weapon in the armoury must be deployed in the fight against terror, a civil democratic society can ill afford sacrificing the procedural safeguards legislatively provided, and which is an integral facet of the due process of law, at the alter of perceived peril to national security," the order read.

The case

According to the prosecution, Assistant Police Inspector Atul Shantaram Awhad, who was then attached to the Special Branch, Gadchiroli, received information that accused Tirki and Narote were active members of the banned organisation CPI (Maoist) and its frontal organisation Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF). The duo was allegedly abetting and assisting the hardcore underground cadre of the CPI (Maoist) by providing information and material and facilitating travel and relocation of the members. API Awhad and his squad kept an eye on Tikri and Narote in the naxal-affected areas of Etapalli, Aheri and Murewada.

On August 22, 2013, cops saw the duo with Hem Mishra, a JNU student, at Aheri bus stop. The cops brought them in for questioning. The cops found three pamphlets of CPI (Maoist) and RDF from Tikri and one 16-GB memory card, which was wrapped in paper, from Mishra, among other things.

Police officers claimed that during interrogation of Mishra, they learnt that Saibaba was an active member of CPI (Maoist) and RDF, and that he had given Mishra the memory card to be delivered to active members of the banned organisation. Following this, Saibaba and the other two accused were later arrested in the case.

Meanwhile, Advocate P K Sathianathan, a special public prosecutor who represented Maharashtra police in the case, claimed that he was removed from the case abruptly three months ago. The police, however, said he himself had asked to be relieved.

NIA moves SC

Hours after the Bombay High Court order, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) moved the Supreme Court for stay, which was declined. The SC, however, allowed the NIA to move an application before the registry requesting for urgent listing. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who mentioned the matter for urgent listing and stay of the verdict, that the court cannot stay the acquittal order as the parties are not before it. The bench said it has also not gone through the case file or the verdict of the high court.

"The order is very disappointing, the acquittal happened based on a very technical ground despite the fact that there are very strong evidence against all accused. I am just imagining what the families must be thinking today those who have lost their loved ones in naxal attacks. We have already approached Supreme Court and we are confidence of getting justice," said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

2017
Year when a trial court convicted Saibaba

With inputs from Agencies