HC acquits Saibaba, 5 others in Maoist case

Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday acquitted former Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba and five others on charges of links with outlawed Maoist organizations.
A division Bench of Justices Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare allowed the appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the session court convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
The Bench also allowed the appeal of five other convicts in the case and acquitted them. One of the five died before the appeal was heard.
The Bench directed that the convicts to be released forthwith from jail if they were not accused in any other case.
Saibaba, who is wheelchair-bound due to a physical disability, is lodged at the Nagpur Central Prison.
In March 2017, a sessions court in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra 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 war against the country.
Subsequently, the court awarded them life imprisonment for anti-national activities.
Saibaba and the others were held guilty under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.
UNI