NEW DELHI:
Supreme Court
on Monday said the
order
passed by Bombay High Court, acquitting former Delhi University Professor
G N Saibaba
and others for alleged
Maolist links
, was
prima facie
very well reasoned and rejected the plea to stay their
acquittal
.
At the outset of the hearing, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said there was no urgency in hearing the
appeal
filed by Maharashtra government and it could be heard in due course.
The bench observed that it would have dismissed the appeal in normal cases as the
HC judgement
was well reasoned and no
interference
was needed but it had to hear the appeal as another bench of the court had interfered and passed order in the case.
The bench was referring to an order passed by the apex court on October 15 last year when it had stayed the acquittal order of the HC in an unprecedented hearing which was done on Saturday and blocked the way for Saibaba and others to come out of jail. SC had later quashed the acquittal order and directed the HC to hear the case afresh. Another bench of the HC heard the case afresh and passed the order in their favour and acquitted them.
"There are two orders of acquittal by two different benches. Prima facie, we find that the judgment is very well-reasoned. Since on an earlier occasion, this court had interfered, we will have to honour that. In ordinary course, we would not have entertained this appeal. The parameters of interference with acquittal orders are very limited," the bench observed.
Though Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the state, did not press for stay and only pleaded for early hearing on its appeal, the bench noted that the plea for stay was there in the petition and passed a formal order. "... since there is a prayer in the appeal memo, we are inclined to reject the same," the bench said in the order.
"It's a hard-earned acquittal. How many years has the man spent in jail?" the court said, indicating that the accused had to convince the Bombay HC twice about their innocence. It said there is always presumption of innocence and when there's an order of acquittal, that presumption gets fortified.
Almost six years after Saibaba and his four accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment by Gadchiroli sessions court under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly aiding and abetting Maoist activities and waging war against nation, the Nagpur bench of Bombay HC on March 5 again acquitted all of them.
On March 7, 2017, district and sessions court had convicted all of them under various Sections of UAPA and Indian Penal Code, for their alleged links with Maoists.
While quashing the earlier acquittal order of HC, the apex court had in Oct refused Saibaba's plea to allow him to come out of jail because of his physical disability and medical condition or be put under house arrest with strict conditions imposed on him.
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