Supreme Court sets aside Bombay HC order acquitting GN Saibaba in Maoist links case; new bench to decide appeals afresh

The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Bombay High Court judgment that had acquitted former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case..A Bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar remanded the matter to the High Court for fresh consideration, keeping all contentions open.Pertinently, the top court suggested that the case be heard by another bench of the High Court, since the previous bench had already formed an opinion on the question of sanction being needed."It will be open for the State to contend that once the accused are convicted after conclusion of the trial, the validity of the sanction and/or no sanction in case of one of the accused cannot be gone into and/or the same would become insignificant and as and when such issues are raised, the same be considered by the High Court in accordance with law and on its own merits ... We request the High Court to decide and dispose of the Appeals on merits at the earliest and preferably within a period of 4 months from the date of receipt of the present order. It is also observed that the propriety demands that, on remand, the Appeals be placed before another Bench so as to avoid any further apprehensions," the apex court ordered..Additional Solicitor General SV Raju represented the State of Maharashtra. Senior Advocates R Basant and Nitya Ramakrishna and Advocate Shadan Farasat represented the accused..The verdict came in a challenge to the High Court's judgment of October 14, 2022 that had allowed an appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 trial court decision convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment.That appeal was allowed based on the fact that the sessions court framed charges against Saibaba in the absence of sanction from the Central government as per Section 45(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).The High Court had recorded that while terrorism poses an ominous threat to national security and every legitimate weapon in the armoury must be deployed against it, a civil democracy cannot sacrifice procedural safeguards afforded to the accused..The top court subsequently held a special sitting on Saturday, October 15, and suspended the High Court's decision.The order was passed after the Maharashtra government contended that failure to grant sanction cannot lead to acquittal in view of Section 465 of the Code of Criminal Procedure..Former CJI UU Lalit explains how, why petition against GN Saibaba acquittal came to be listed on Saturday.Follow our coverage of the case, here.[Read order]