GN Saibaba Case | Merely Downloading Naxal Literature Not An Offence Under UAPA: Bombay High Court

Merely downloading Communist or Naxal literature from the internet or being a sympathizer of the philosophy is not an offence under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Bombay High Court has held.

The court said that in addition to the literature, evidence was required to connect the accused to specific incidents of violence and terrorism, which would be offences within the purview of Sections 13, 20 and 39 of the UAPA.

The observation was made by the division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki Menezes while acquitting former DU Professor GN Saibaba and four others.

“It is by now common knowledge that one can access a huge amount of information from the website of Communist or Naxal philosophy, their activities including videos and video footage of even violent nature; Merely because a citizen downloads this material or even sympathizes with the philosophy, would itself not be an offence….”

The court further noted that passive membership would not constitute an offence under Sections 13, 20 and 39 of the UAPA.

It underscored the evidence of the investigating officer in the case - Suhas Pauche - who said “Naxal-related banned thoughts” are available on a website as well as “All information regarding CPI (Maoists) and Naxal literature, meetings, resolutions.”

The bench added that using someone's philosophical beliefs or the literature they read, especially if it is widely available on the internet, as evidence against them would to a certain extent violate their fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which protects the freedom of speech and expression, among other rights. It said:

“In any event, merely because a particular philosophy is contained in the literature, which in any case has not been proved is under the authorship of any of the accused, or because a person chooses to read such literature which is otherwise accessible from the internet from various websites Communists or Maoists literature and philosophy, would to a certain extent be violative of the fundamental rights of any citizen under Article 19 of the Constitution of India”

The court further held that no evidence had been led by the prosecution to connect the accused to any such act, either by participating in its preparation or its direction or in any manner providing support to its commission.

Professor Saibaba was arrested on May 9, 2014. In 2017, Saibaba and the order accused were sentenced to life imprisonment. Subsequently, in 2022 the Bombay High Court acquitted him observing an invalid Sanction under UAPA. However, last year, the Supreme Court ordered re-adjudication of his appeal and for it to be considered on merits as well.

Yesterday the Bombay High Court acquitted all accused again, this time on merits. Meanwhile, Prof Saibaba has spent 3588 days in prison.

In its detailed order, the court said the trial was conducted despite a violation of mandatory provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) pertaining to arrest, search and seizure, and sanction to prosecute.

Click here to read the judgment