The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, on Friday, acquitted former Delhi University (DU) professor G N Saibaba, who was accused of links with Maoist and was booked under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and of criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Saibaba’s appeal challenging a 2017 order of the Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district trial court, that convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment, was allowed by a Division Bench of Justices Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare.
GN Saibaba is suffering from major physical disability, wheelchair bound and is currently lodged at the Nagpur central prison. Apart from Saibaba, appeals of five other convicts; Mahesh Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote, Hem Keshwdatta Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Vijay Nan Tirki and G.N. Saibaba in the case were allowed by the bench and they were acquitted. One of the five people, Pandu Narote (33), died on August 26 due to swine flu.
The bench also directed for the convicts to be released from jail unless they are accused in any other case.
Gokalkonda Naga Saibaba (52), was arrested on February 16, 2014, for alleged links with Maoists. Charges were not framed against him and five others by the sessions court until February 21, 2015.
Prof. Saibaba has been suffering from polio since the age of five and still managed to score first position in the metric exams. He has been known to crawl, by covering his hands with chappals, till 2008, when he started using a wheelchair. He was arrested in May, 2014 when he was working as Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Ram Lal Anand College, affiliated to Delhi University and was terminated from service in 2021.