In a significant ruling, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court declared on Tuesday that downloading content associated with a specific ideology from the internet does not constitute an offense under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). This judgment came during the hearing of the case involving links to Maoists by GN Saibaba, a former professor of Delhi University.
Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki Menzes emphasized the need for concrete evidence linking the accused to specific incidents of violence and terrorism. They also highlighted that penalizing individuals for writing or reading freely available communist or Maoist literature on the internet infringes upon fundamental rights.
The court raised questions regarding the delayed arrests in the case, noting the lack of evidence that Saibaba and others were conspiring to commit terrorist acts. The prosecution failed to prove that the former DU professor and other defendants were preparing to engage in terrorist activities under the UAPA, prompting the court to question the timing of their arrests.
During the hearings, the Bombay High Court noted that access to communist and Naxalite viewpoints on the internet is common, and individuals can freely browse, scan, and download such content, including violent videos and footage.
The court ultimately acquitted Professor Saibaba and five others, who had been arrested between 2013 and 2014 by the Gadchiroli police in Maharashtra for alleged links to the banned CPI (Maoist) and its frontal organization, the Revolutionary Democratic Front. Saibaba, who is 90% physically disabled and was present in court in a wheelchair, along with five others, was cleared of charges under five stringent sections of the UAPA related to terrorism and waging war against the country.
