G N Saibaba’s wife thanks judiciary, expresses hope that apex court won’t entertain appeals
Illustration/Uday Mohite
- Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba
- Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki S A Menezes overturned a sessions court’s 2017 conviction
- The court stated that the accused could be released on bail bonds of Rs 50,000 each
The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench on Tuesday acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and five others accused of having Maoist links. Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki S A Menezes overturned a sessions court’s 2017 conviction.
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The court stated that the accused could be released on bail bonds of Rs 50,000 each. The court also highlighted that the prosecution failed to substantiate their case against the accused and deemed the sanction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as null and void. It also noted that the prosecution couldn't provide any incriminating evidence against the accused, and the trial proceeded despite legal violations.
The court in its 293-page order stated, “The prosecution has failed to establish legal arrest and seizure from accused Nos. 1 to 5, and failed to establish the seizure of incriminating material from the house search of accused No. 6 [Saibaba]. The prosecution has also failed to prove the electronic evidence in terms of the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act, and the Information Technology Act.”
An old photo of (from left) G N Saibaba’s mother Gokarakonda Suryavathi, his wife Vasantha Kumari and himself
The appeals were filed by Saibaba, Mahesh Kariman Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote, Prashant Rahi and Hem Keshavdatta Mishra, who were handed life imprisonment, along with Vijay Tirki, who received a 10-year sentence by a special court in 2017. The accused were arrested between 2013 and 14 for having links with Maoists. This decision came after a rehearing of Saibaba’s appeal, following a Supreme Court ruling that set aside his previous acquittal in October 2022 and sent the case back to the high court for a fresh hearing.
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Wife reacts
Vasantha Kumari, Saibaba’s wife, told mid-day, “We are relieved that he has been acquitted, revealing once again the shortcomings of the state machinery. My husband was prosecuted for his social work and for exposing the government’s actions. I spoke to him today [Tuesday] via a video call, and he seemed very happy and relieved that he will soon be released. I want to express my gratitude to all our lawyers and the judiciary."
She went on to say, "During the ten years of imprisonment, we faced immense mental and financial challenges without any evidence against us. My husband suffered from hypertension and some cardiac issues before, but now he has 19 illnesses, including paralysis in his left leg and 90 per cent paralysis in his right leg. The government has continuously tried to suppress our fundamental rights and has previously challenged the high court’s orders. We hope the Supreme Court will not entertain their appeals this time. Ten years have already passed, and my husband has endured a great deal of suffering.”
Background facts
Saibaba, a 54-year-old wheelchair-bound individual with a 90 per cent disability, is currently incarcerated in Nagpur Central Jail. The sessions court in Gadchiroli had convicted him and others in March 2017 for alleged Maoist connections and activities amounting to waging war against the country. The court found Saibaba and two others in possession of Maoist literature with the intent to distribute it among underground Maoists in Gadchiroli and incite violence among the district’s residents.
Despite arguments about the lack of prosecution sanction, the sessions court upheld the convictions. Saibaba appealed this decision to the Bombay High Court, which, on October 14, 2022, acquitted him based on the absence of prosecution sanction required under Section 45(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Professor G N Saibaba
“Vile and abhorrent acts of terror do evoke collective societal anger and anguish. 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 altar of perceived peril to national security,” the 2022 HC order reads.
The bench comprising Justice Rohit Deo and Justice Anil Pansare further said their order, “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 counterproductive 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.”
However, the Maharashtra government challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, which suspended the high court's ruling on October 15, 2022. The Supreme Court later set aside the high court’s acquittal judgment on April 19, 2023, and sent the case back to the high court for reconsideration.
The case
According to the prosecution, Assistant Police Inspector (API) Atul Shantaram Awhad-who was then attached to the Special Branch, Gadchiroli, received secret information that accused Mahesh Tirki and accused Pandu Narote were active members of the banned terrorist organisation CPI (Maoist) and its frontal organisation Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), and were abetting and assisting the hardcore underground cadre of the CPI (Maoist) by providing information and material and facilitating the travel and relocation of the members from one location to the other.
API Awhad and his squad were keeping accused Tirki and Narote under surveillance, in the Maoist-affected areas of Etapalli, Aheri and Murewada. On August 22, 2013, API Awhad and his squad were at the Aheri bus station in Gadchiroli. They saw these two accused having a suspicious conversation with another accused, a JNU student Hem Mishra. The authorities approached the trio and asked some questions but as they allegedly gave evasive answers, they were brought to the Aheri police station.
During searches, one RDF and three CPI (Maoist) pamphlets, a purse containing Rs 60, a platform ticket of Ballarshah railway station dated May 28, 2013, an identity card and a Micromax cell phone were seized from Tirki. A Samsung cell phone, purse containing Rs 1,480, platform ticket of Delhi railway station dated May 28, 2013, PAN card and identity card were seized from Narote. While searching Mishra, the police seized a 16 GB Sandisk memory card wrapped in paper, a purse containing Rs 7,700, a Delhi-Ballarshah railway ticket dated August 19, 2013, a camera and charger, a PAN card, an identity card and a cloth bag. The trio were then arrested, and a case was registered under various sections of the UAPA and Indian Penal Code.
During Mishra’s interrogation, it was claimed that Saibaba, an alleged member of CPI (Maoist) and RDF, had handed over a memory card wrapped in paper to Mishra with instructions to deliver the same to Narmadakka. Saibaba was also placed under arrest on May 9, 2014, and during the investigation, the police also arrested Prashant Rahi and Vijay Tirki. On August 1, 2020, the professor’s mother, Gokarakonda Suryavathi, died, without fulfilling her final wish of seeing him one last time, as he was denied bail.
Application denied
The Bombay High Court has dismissed the state of Maharashtra’s application to stay the judgment acquitting Saibaba and five others. The state sought a six-week stay, soon after the acquittal, to move the Supreme Court and due to the potential serious repercussions of implementing the judgment in the meantime.
19
No of illnesses Saibaba is dealing with, according to wife
May 9, 2014
The day Prof G N Saibaba was arrested from his Delhi home
August 1, 2020
Day Saibaba’s mother died, without fulfilling her final wish of seeing him one last time, as he was denied bail
October 14, 2022
Day the Bombay High Court acquitted him the first time
April 19, 2023
Day the Supreme Court overturned his acquittal, extending his incarceration
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