Professor GN SaiBaba , PDSU leader Hem Mishra were sentenced to life imprisonment for Naxal connection
A district court in Gadchiroli Tuesday sentenced wheelchair-bound Delhi University professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba and four others to life imprisonment under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the IPC for aiding and abetting Naxal activities. A sixth convict was handed 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
‘Merely because Saibaba is 90 per cent disabled is no ground to show him leniency… he is physically handicapped but he is mentally fit, a thinktank and a high-profile leader of banned organisations.”- Judge observed.
“Several lives were lost from 2009 due to your activities and there was huge loss of public property. The imprisonment for life is not a sufficient punishment to the accused, but the hands of court are tied with the mandate of Section 18 and 20 of UAPA. It’s a fit case to award life imprisonment to all the accused, except one (Vijay Tirki),” the judge said.
The others who were handed life terms are Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Mahesh Tirki and Pandu Narote. The sixth accused to be convicted, Vijay Tirki, was handed rigorous imprisonment because it was his first-time offence, said the judge. The six were convicted under Sections 13, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the UAPA along with Section 120-B
(criminal conspiracy) of the IPC-
(The Indian Express http://indianexpress.com/…/gadchiroli-court-says-du-profes…/)
Why this case can be considered as a watershed in Indian history of Justice ?
The prosecution’s story was that Hem Mishra, Mahesh Tirki and Pandu Narote had gone inside the jungles and met wanted accused Narmada Akka, a top Maoist commander in the Gadchiroli area and from her they collected Rs 5 lakh that was to be delivered to Saibaba in Delhi to spread the Maoist ideology in the urban setting.
Public prosecutor Prashant Sathianathan had brought in 23 witnesses and 41 articles including about 3 TB of data contained in hard disks recovered from Saibaba ‘s residence.
“Saibaba was the deputy joint secretary and there is a speech of him in which he said, “Naxalism is the only way and denounces the democratic government setup. All these videos were played out in the court,” the public prosecutor.
The feeling is that the public prosecutor Sri Prashant Sathianathan almost worked on par with the caliber of Ujjwal Nikam of 26/11 case fame.
The Public Prosecutor has with the help of the Police dug in to the Naxal connections of the accused Sai Baba and placed before the court unflinching evidences.
The public prosecutor talking to the media said ‘probably this is the first instance where prosecution’s electronic and digital evidences, were relied upon by the court which lead to conviction of the accused.
According to prosecution, Saibaba had been in touch with Maoists from various countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Interestingly the defense counsel did not counter the electronic and digital evidences, for the reason it was all clear in black and white.
How the left liberals cried foul when Saibaba was arrested?
Prashant Bhushan spewed venom, Markhandey Katju wrote tons of text, and Arundhati Roy was slapped with a Contempt notice. Yet all are silent now after the verdict.
The mysterious role of Amnesty International in spearheading the campaign to release the accused is shocking too.
When GN Saibaba was arrested in May 2014, Amnesty International spearheaded protest movements for the release of him, accusing Indian Government of rights violation. In India it was the time of a grand political transformation. However it was the then UPA Government which registered the first FIR, and arrested the suspects in 2013. The Maoist courier and sympathizers Hem Mishra and Prashant Sahi were arrested in August 2013
After their arrests in Gatchiroli Dist the police HQ started receiving huge number of letters from all over the world, yes, not just from India, but from all over the Globe, vouching for the innocence of the arrested persons. The petitioners in these letters, were pleading not to torture the arrested student and the journo as they were all innocents, and had no links with the banned Maoist organisations. The local police were aghast when they were flooded with thousands of letters every month and this flood continued for several months. On a scrutiny they found letters were received from all most from all major countries and Netherland was found to be on the top.
The mysterious organisation behind this letter spam is none other than an online web portal named ‘counter current news’ a wing of Amnesty International. It may not be a co incident that Mr Salil Shetty who by then was heading the Amnesty International and his role in the flood of letters in support of the arrested Naxal sympathizers can’t be ruled out. These letters appears to have originated from countries where ever Amnesty International and the web portal ‘counter current news’ were active.
The impact of this conviction may set a legal law precedent to follow in future sedition cases as well as cases under UPA and other similar acts.
It all depends on how the prosecution will handle the case, present the evidences in a free atmosphere, with out any force or sub ordination from high commands.
In this prevalent vicious atmosphere in campus, violent anti India insurgent activities in academic campuses, this conviction will go in long a warning to the misguided youths, and hopefully put an end to Naxal related insurgent activities. Contrary to this judicious outcome, if the accused were to be acquitted on benefit of doubt, the whole left wing politicians, Naxal and Maoist outfits would have gone berserk further putting the nation in peril.
A timely punishment of anti national outfits saves the nation for centuries.
Just while concluding a good news, Swami Aseemanand acquitted of charges in Ajmer terror charges
Good days are ahead!