Delhi university professor, 5 others sentenced to life imprisonment for maoist links

Nagpur : Delhi University Professor ‘G.N. Saibaba’, along with five others, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Gadchiroli Sessions Court, after being found guilty of helping a Maoist group. In 2014, Prof Saibaba was arrested who was active in Gadchiroli, a Naxal dominated district in Maharashtra. Today, along with the others, a ‘Jawaharlal Nehru University’ female student is also convicted by the Sessions Court.

Back in 2014, on 9^th May, Delhi University Prof G.N. Saibaba was arrested on charges of supporting the Naxalites. Meanwhile, in 2013, JNU student ‘Hemant Mishra’ was also arrested for alleged Maoist links. During the police investigation, Mishra confessed that he was acting as a courier between Prof. Saibaba and the Maoist leaders in Chhattisgarh. Mishra is a student of ‘JNU’. Along with Mishra, former journalist, ‘Prashant Rahi’, and three others were also arrested at that time. As per the evidences found in Professor’s computer, his links to the Maoist organization is unambiguous. The Professor did the job of indoctrinating and recruiting youth to the Maoist organization. By supporting the Maoist ideology, the Professor was clearly found guilty of waging war against India.

Prof Saibaba was arrested in Delhi. Following his arrest, he was lodged in Nagpur Central Jail for several days. But he managed to get bail on health grounds claiming his 90% physical disability. This had led to a stream of disputes. Meanwhile, the Gadchiroli District and Sessions Court had fast tracked the proceedings of this case. Prosecutor investigated 23 witnesses, while the Defense lawyer investigated none in this case. The accused were convicted under Sections 18, 20, 36, 38 and 39 of the ‘Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’ and the hearing was conducted. The stringent ‘Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’ is used for dealing with the activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of the country.

After an elaborate hearing of both the sides, Principal Judge of District and Sessions Court, ‘Suryakant Shinde’, closed hearing after pronouncing the verdict on 9^th February. Later on Tuesday, while Prof Saibaba was pronounced guilty of Maoist links and for “waging war against India” along with him, his associates, ‘Prashant Rahi’, ‘Hem Mishra’, ‘Vijay Tirke’, ‘Mahesh Tirke’ and ‘Pandu Narote’ were also found guilty and received life imprisonment.