Saibaba: SC cancels order discharging DU ex-prof Saibaba in Maoist links case | India News

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the judgment of the Bombay high court which had discharged former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and other accused in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged Maoist links. It directed the HC to hear the case afresh.

The HC had on October 14 last year discharged Saibaba and four others but the apex court suspended the order just a day after in a special hearing. It had found fault in the HC judgement as the court did not examine the serious charges levelled against the accused and did not adjudicate on the merit of the case while adopting a “short-cut” approach in discharging them on the ground of lack of sanction or invalid sanction to prosecute them.
As the Maharashtra government and convicts agreed that the matter could be referred back to the HC for fresh adjudication, a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar quashed the HC order and directed the Chief Justice of the HC to place the case before a bench other than the one which passed the discharge order last year. The court said that the HC will conduct a fresh hearing and decide the case on merit including the issue of lack of sanction and improper sanction. It also allowed the state to raise the point before the HC that sanction was not to be considered once an accused is convicted in a case.