The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the order
of the Bombay High Court that discharged former Delhi University professor GN
Saibaba and other accused in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act for alleged Maoist links.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar
remanded the matter to the High Court for fresh consideration and directed that
the case be decided within four months.
The apex court asked the Chief Justice of the High
Court to place the case before another bench since the previous bench had
already formed an opinion on the question of sanction being needed.
Maharashtra government had approached the top court
challenging the October 14, 2022 order of the Bombay High Court which
discharged Saibaba and others in an alleged Maoist links case.
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.
It also stayed the release of Saibaba and others
from jail. The top court had, however, said that the accused would be at
liberty to move for bail.
It had said that the accused were convicted by the
trial court after detailed appreciation of evidence.
"Offences are very serious and if the State
succeeds on merits, offences are very serious against the interest of the
society, sovereignty and integrity of India. High Court order is based on no
sanction," the top court had noted.It had opined that the High Court did
not consider the case on merits but acquitted the accused due to lack of
sanction from the Central government required under Section 45 of the Unlawful
Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The High Court discharged the accused only on the
ground that the sanction was invalid and some material which was placed before
the appropriate authority and sanction was granted on the same day, it had
noted.
The government had said that the failure to grant
sanction cannot lead to acquittal.
Hours after the High Court acquitted Saibaba and
others in the case, the Maharashtra government had approached the Supreme Court
challenging the decision.
The High Court had allowed an appeal filed by
Saibaba and five others challenging a 2017 decision of the trial court
convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment under the anti-terror law
UAPA. They were arrested in 2014.
The High Court had ordered the immediate release of
Saibaba and the other accused, including a journalist and a JNU student. It had
noted that the sanction was accorded for Saibaba's prosecution only after the
trial commenced. For the other accused, the High Court had noted that the
sanction order issued to prosecute them in the case under the UAPA was
"bad in law and invalid".
Apart from Saibaba, the High Court acquitted Mahesh
Kariman Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote, Hem Keshavdatta Mishra and Prashant
Sanglikar, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Vijay Tirki who was
awarded 10 years in jail. Narote died during the appeal process.
They were sentenced to life imprisonment by the
Sessions Court at Gadchiroli, Maharashtra in March 2017 for offences under
various sections of UAPA and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code for alleged
association with Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), which was alleged to be
an affiliate of outlawed Maoist organisation.
They were convicted for indulging in activities
"amounting to waging war against the country".