The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday the plea of former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, a paraplegic, to remit back to Bombay High Court the row relating to his discharge and his earlier prosecution by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged links with Maoists.
A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Sanjay Karol agreed to take up the request of senior advocate R. Basant, appearing for Saibaba, that the appeal filed by the Maharashtra government against his discharge by Bombay High Court be remitted back to the high court for a decision on merits.
“At the request of Mr R. Basant, learned senior counsel, list tomorrow, ie, 19.04.2023, at 10.30am,” the bench said.
On October 15 last year, the Supreme Court had on an appeal from the Maharashtra government “suspended” the high court’s decision a day earlier acquitting Saibaba and four others of alleged Maoist links on the ground that no valid “sanction” was obtained under the UAPA.
A bench of Justices Shah and Bela M. Trivedi had suspended the high court sentence on the ground that the charges against Saibaba were “very serious” for which he had been sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court. The top court said the conviction could not have been set aside on the mere technicality of a valid sanction not being obtained under Section 45 of the UAPA.
While suspending the high court’s decision, the apex court had said the high court did not go into the merits of the allegations and merely confined itself to the validity of the sanction obtained.
However, the top court had said it would examine the following important questions of law:
■ Whether an appellate court can reverse a sentence of conviction on the mere basis of there being an invalid sanction
■ Whether in a case where the trial court has convicted an accused on the basis of material and appreciation of evidence, an appellate court is justified in discharging the accused on the ground of irregular sanction, particularly when the issue of sanction was not raised by the convicts during the trial.
