SC rejects Maharashtra government plea to stay activist GN Saibaba’s acquittal in Maoist links case

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Maharashtra government seeking a stay on the Bombay High Court’s March 5 verdict acquitting former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and five others who were accused of having links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), PTI reported.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, while hearing the Maharashtra government’s special leave petition, said that the Bombay High Court’s order was “prima facie well reasoned”.

Saibaba was first arrested in the case in May 2014 but was granted bail twice. He had been lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail after a sessions court convicted him on March 7, 2017.

On March 5, the Bombay High Court set aside the judgement, ruling that it is not inherently illegal to access content about Communist or Naxalite philosophy, including videos of a violent nature, unless there is evidence linking the accused person to specific acts of violence or terrorism.

Hours after the acquittal, the Maharashtra government filed an application in the Bombay High Court seeking a six-week stay on the order. The High Court, however, dismissed the application and Saibaba was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on March 7.

“No evidence has been led by the prosecution by any witness to any incident, attack, act...

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