The Supreme Court on Saturday suspended the Bombay High Court’s order and said academic G N Saibaba will stay in jail for his alleged links with Maoists.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday suspended the Bombay High Court’s order and said academic G N Saibaba will stay in jail for his alleged links with Maoists.
Saibaba, a former professor of the Delhi University, is currently serving a life term for links with Maoists. Recently, the Bombay High Court had ordered his acquittal.
The Supreme Court also issued a notice to the accused on Maharashtra government’s plea challenging the High Court order and listed the matter for hearing on December 8.
The bench of Justices M R Shah and Bela M Trivedi, which sat on a non-working day to hear the matter, also junked Saibaba’s request to put him under house arrest keeping in mind his physical disability and health conditions.
Appearing for Saibaba, senior advocate Basant said the academic was 90 per cent physically disabled and requested house arrest. “My client is 90% physically disabled, has multiple ailments. He is confined to his wheel chair,” he had said.
The bench said house arrest cannot be accepted as Saibaba is convicted for a serious offence.
The Supreme Court order came after the Maharashtra government approached the apex court after the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba and ordered his release from the jail. The High Court had noted that the sanction order issued to prosecute the accused in the case under the UAPA was “bad in law and invalid”.
