Maoist Link

G N Saibaba, who died due to post-operative complications last week, seven months after he was acquitted in a case alleging his Maoist links, was a person with enormous love for his country and should be seen as a hero, activist Harsh Mander said on Monday. At a memorial service held for the former Delhi University (DU) professor by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), Mander and other activists also alleged that Saibaba's death was an "institutional murder" and that his health had deteriorated due to poor conditions in jail. Mander, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, described Saibaba as a professor who was loved by his students and a person concerned about injustice and inhumanity. "This became a reason for the establishment to accuse him of being a Maoist," he said. "There was no evidence of him having participated in any kind of violent activity," he added. Mander said Saibaba spent 10 years in jail, including the entire COVID-19 pand

Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba died at a state-run hospital here due to health-related complications on Saturday, merely seven months after he was acquitted in a case of alleged links with Maoists after 10 years in prison. Saibaba, who was in his 50s, breathed his last at around 9 pm, an official said. He died at due to gall bladder infection and other complications. The Bombay High Court in March this year acquitted Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case, noting the prosecution failed to prove the case against him.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Maharashtra government application seeking a stay on a Bombay High Court order that acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and others in the Maoist links case. A bench of justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta admitted the state government's appeal, even as it observed that the high court order was "prima facie well reasoned". The bench also rejected the oral request of Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Maharashtra government for early listing of the appeal and said it will come in due course. "There cannot be any urgency in the order of reversal of conviction. Had it been the other way around, we would have considered," the bench told Raju. Justice Mehta said it is a hard-earned acquittal and in normal course, this court should have dismissed this appeal. On March 5, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba, 54, and others, noting that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable

Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday, two days after the Bombay High Court acquitted him in an alleged Maoist links case. Saibaba was lodged in the jail here since 2017 after his conviction by a trial court in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. Before that, he was in prison from 2014 to 2016 and was subsequently granted bail. "My health is very bad. I can't talk. I will have to first take medical treatment, and then only I will able to speak," Saibaba, who has been wheelchair-bound, told reporters after coming out of the jail. A family member was waiting for him outside the jail. The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Tuesday set aside the life sentence of Saibaba in the alleged Maoist links case, noting that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. The HC overturned Saibaba's sentence, terming the sanction for prosecution granted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as "n

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case and set aise the life imprisonment imposed on him. A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes also acquitted five others accused in the case. The bench 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 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). While the prosecution did not seek the HC to stay its order, it said it was likely to file an appeal in the Supreme Court immediately. On October 14, 2022, another bench of the HC acquitted Saibaba, noting the trial proceedings were "null and void" in the absence of a valid sanction under the UAPA. The Maharashtra government had on the same day approached the Supreme Court challengi

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday accused the Congress of encouraging Naxalism and claimed that incidents of Naxal violence have come down by 52 per cent in the nine-year rule of the Narendra Modi government. Addressing a rally in Jagdalpur in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Shah urged people to bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in the state currently ruled by the Congress, promising that his party will make the entire state free of the Naxal menace. He claimed that if the Congress comes back to power in Chhattisgarh, the money sent from the Centre for the state's development will be "diverted to Delhi through the 'ATM' of Congress". Polling for the 90 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh is scheduled to be held in two phases on November 7 and 17 and votes will be counted on December 3. Shah said the people of Chhattisgarh will celebrate Diwali thrice - once on the day of the festival, second when the BJP will be elected to power on December 3, and third when the construct

A Naxalite wanted in several cases was arrested in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district, police said on Thursday. Nitesh Kumar Mehta, a member of the Tritiya Prastuti Committee, was arrested from the Barkagaon police station area, they said. He was a "terror" in Chatra and Hazaribag districts, and was on the run for the last three years, they added. He was arrested from his sister's house where he came to celebrate Karam Puja, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Amit Kumar Singh said. Mehta was wanted in more than six cases, including those of extortion, he said. A court sent him to judicial custody on Wednesday, he added.

On October 15, the top court in a special hearing on Saturday suspended the October 14 order of the High Court which discharged Saibaba and others

The Supreme Court agreed to list for hearing on Friday a fresh plea of activist Gautam Navlakha, who has not been shifted to house arrest despite the apex court's direction in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of a senior lawyer, appearing for Navlakha, that the apex court's direction to keep him in house arrest has not been complied with so far. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NIA, said that the accused, instead of giving the address of his house, has given the address of the office of the Communist Party and moreover, a separate plea would also be filed. The top court said both the pleas of the probe agency and the accused will be listed together before a bench headed by Justice K M Joseph. The top court had on November 10 allowed the 70-year-old Navlakha to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health.

In a special hearing on Saturday, the Supreme Court suspended the October 14 order of the Bombay High Court which discharged former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and others

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court to suspend the Bombay High Court's order of acquitting former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and others in a Maoist links case. The top court on Saturday rejected Saibaba's request to order his release from jail due to his disability and health conditions and put him under house arrest after the Maharashtra government opposed the prayer, saying that nowadays, there is a new tendency of "urban naxals" to seek house arrest. The high court had acquitted Saibaba and others in the case on Friday. Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Fadnavis said, "I am satisfied with the apex court's decision to suspend the high court order on professor G N Saibaba. Yesterday, I had said that the high court decision was surprising and shocking for us, because releasing a person on technical grounds, against whom there was ample evidence of directly helping Maoists, was wrong. Hence,

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case, and ordered his immediate release from jail. A division bench of Justice Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare allowed the appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting him and sentencing him to life imprisonment. Saibaba, who is wheelchair-bound due to a physical disability, is currently lodged at the Nagpur central prison. The bench also allowed the appeal of five other convicts in the case and acquitted them. One of the five died pending hearing of the appeal. The bench directed for the convicts to be released forthwith from jail unless they are accused in any other case. In March 2017, a sessions court in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district had convicted Saibaba and others, including a journalist and a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student for alleged Maoist links and for indulging in activities amounting to waging

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Bombay High Court order acquitting Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba in a case relating to his alleged Maoist links. Hours after the Bombay High Court order, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) moved the Supreme Court for stay which was declined. The apex court, however, allowed the NIA to move an application before the registry requesting for urgent listing. A bench of Justices DY 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. "You move an application before the registry for taking administrative decision on urgent listing of the matter from the Chief Justice of India, the bench said. Earlier in the day, more than eight years after his arrest, the Bombay High Court ...

: Former Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba suffered immensely in prison for years because of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and his loved ones had to watch helplessly, AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi said on Friday. In a tweet, he said, Prof Saibaba suffered immensely in prison for years because of UAPA & his loved ones had to watch helplessly. UAPA is a monster created by the collaboration of BJP & Congress. Its victims are mostly innocent Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis & dissenters." More than eight years after his arrest, the Bombay High Court today acquitted Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case for want of valid sanction for prosecution under the UAPA. Only three per cent of accused have been convicted under UAPA, but innocent people arrested under it remain in jail for years, Owaisi claimed in another tweet.

The Congress on Friday said the acquittal of former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case proves that the "'urban naxal' tag invented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brigade is completely bogus". The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday acquitted Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case and ordered his immediate release from jail. A division bench of Justice Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare allowed the appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting him and sentencing him to life imprisonment. Saibaba, who is wheelchair-bound due to a physical disability, is currently lodged at the Nagpur central prison. "Wheelchair-bound Prof G N Saibaba's acquittal after five years in jail proves that 'urban naxal' tag invented by the prime minister's brigade is completely bogus," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet. "Many others are still in wholly unjustifiable custody. Such smear tactics must be resisted

The family members of activists arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case claimed they were "systematically" denied medical treatment and the condition of activist Vernon Gonsalves was yet another act of "criminal negligence" of prison authorities. Gonsalves, arrested for his alleged role in the case, was recently admitted to the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai. As per his lawyer, the activist he had been diagnosed with dengue and was on oxygen support. The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held in Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts. One person was killed and several others were injured in the violence. The case, in which over a dozen activists and academicians had been named accused, was initially probed by the Pune police and later taken over by the National Investigation Agency. In a press

Some prominent activists on Thursday hailed the release of Sudha Bharadwaj from jail and demanded that the other accused arrested in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case too be set free.

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was on Thursday released from a prison here on bail, after spending three years in jail

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted default bail to lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case

The Maharashtra government said that a sessions court in Pune taking cognisance of the police's charge sheet in the Elgar-Parishad Maoist links case in 2018 did not cause any prejudice to the accused