Ex-Prof of DU, GN Saibaba Released from Nagpur Jail After Acquittal by Bombay HC

Nagpur: Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday. Two days back Bombay High Court acquitted him in an alleged Maoist links case.

Saibaba has been in prison since 2017 after being convicted by a trial court in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. Before that, he was in jail from 2014 to 2016 and was subsequently granted bail.

Wheelchair-bound Saibaba came out of the Nagpur jail and told reporters that his health condition was so bad that he was unable to talk properly. A family member received him outside the jail.

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed 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 termed the sanction for prosecution granted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as “null and void.”

In March 2017, a sessions court in Gadchiroli convicted Saibaba and five others, including a journalist and a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, for alleged Maoist links and for indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country.