Maharashtra government approached the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict of the Bombay High Court acquitting former Delhi University professor and human rights defender GN Saibaba and five others accused of having ties with Maoists on Tuesday.
Saibaba, who has been jailed in Nagpur Central Jail since 2017, was acquitted by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday.
Initially detained in May 2014, Saibaba was granted bail twice before his conviction by a sessions court on 7 March, 2017, resulting in his confinement at Nagpur Central Jail.
A panel of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes overturned this ruling made by the sessions court in 2017 on tuesday.
“No evidence has been led by the prosecution by any witness to any incident, attack, act of violence or even evidence collected from some earlier scene of offence where a terrorist act has taken place, in order to connect the accused to such an act, either by participating in its preparation or its direction or in any manner providing support to its commission,” court had said during acquitting Saibaba.
Following the acquittal, the Maharashtra government swiftly tried to lodge an application in the High Court, requesting a six-week halt on the order. Lodging the application, the state argued that it had appealed to the Supreme Court regarding the verdict, emphasizing potential serious consequences if the judgment were to be enforced immediately. Despite this, the High Court had rejected the application.
