Ex-DU professor Saibaba released from Nagpur jail after acquittal in Maoist links case
Nagpur (PTI): Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday, two days after the Bombay High Court acquitted him in an alleged Maoist links case.
Saibaba was lodged in the jail here since 2017 after his conviction by a trial court in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. Before that, he was in prison from 2014 to 2016 and was subsequently granted bail.
"My health is very bad. I can't talk. I will have to first take medical treatment, and then only I will able to speak," Saibaba, who has been wheelchair-bound, told reporters after coming out of the jail.
A family member was waiting for him outside the jail.
ALSO READ: Maoist links case: HC acquits former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and 5 others
The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Tuesday set aside 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 overturned Saibaba's sentence, terming the sanction for prosecution granted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as "null and void."
The court said the sanction given under UAPA by the state authority was without application of mind and the report submitted by the independent authority recommending invocation of UAPA provisions in the case was "cryptic and a laconic half page communication".
The bench also noted that seizure of some pamphlets and electronic data from the accused merely demonstrated that they were sympathisers of the Maoist philosophy.
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.
#WATCH | Former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba released from Nagpur Central Jail.
— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2024
On 5th March, GN Saibaba, Hem Mishra, Mahesh Tirkey, Vijay Tirkey, Narayan Sanglikar, Prashant Rahi and Pandu Narote (deceased) were acquitted by the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court in a… pic.twitter.com/AuxWE4R7ql
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Manipur: Mortal remains of children killed in bomb attack handed over to family
Imphal (PTI): The mortal remains of two children, who were killed in a bomb attack in Manipur's Bishnupur district in April, were handed over to family members on Saturday, officials said.
The bodies of the five-year-old boy and his six-month-old sister were kept in the morgue for 25 days, as the family members had refused to accept the mortal remains, demanding that the perpetrators be brought to book at the earliest.
On April 25, Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh had appealed to the family members of the children to accept the bodies. Singh had also said that all efforts were underway to find the culprits.
The two children were killed in a bomb attack at Tronglaobi in Bishnupur district on April 7. Their bodies were kept in the morgue at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal.
The incident had triggered widespread violent protests in the five valley districts of Manipur, and the case was subsequently handed over to the NIA.
Hundreds of people lined up along the way to Tronglaobi to offer floral tributes, as the mortal remains were taken for the last rites in an open vehicle earlier in the day.
