New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) A section of activists and Left outfits on Saturday expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court decision to suspend the high court order acquitting G N Saibaba in a Maoist-linked case and urged that the wheelchair-bound former Delhi University professor be given bail for medical treatment.

The All India Students' Association (AISA) held a demonstration at the university's Arts Faculty here, demanding the release of Saibaba. The outfit also accused the police of high-handedness in dealing with students and teachers who participated in the protest.

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However, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the apex court order, saying it would provide relief to the families of the policemen who were martyred in attacks by Naxalites.

Suspending the order of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, the apex court on Saturday said the offences were "very serious" and the accused were convicted after a detailed appreciation of evidence but the high court has not gone into all these aspects.

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Saibaba requested that he be put under house arrest in view of his disability and health condition but it was rejected by the apex court which said he could move a fresh bail application in the case.

The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) general secretary Muralidharan rued: “Killers and rapists like Gurmeet Ram Rahim are granted parole every few months on one pretext or the other”.

“It is a setback and very unfortunate. As far as Saibaba is concerned, given his deteriorating medical condition, the court should at least grant him bail for medical treatment,” he told PTI.

Academician Ashok Swain said, “When a system fears a wheelchair-bound academic and keeps him in prison but releases gang rape and mass murder convicts and welcomes them with garlands and sweets, nothing is left to say about that system”.

BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya took potshots at Congress for supporting Friday's acquittal order of Saibaba, saying “Gokalkonda Naga Saibaba was arrested on February 16, 2014, when the Congress-led UPA was in power”.

Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Fadnavis said, "I am satisfied with the apex court's decision".

"'The high court decision was surprising and shocking for us because releasing a person on technical grounds, against whom there was ample evidence of directly helping Maoists, was wrong. Hence, we approached the SC yesterday itself," the BJP leader said, adding "we will fight the legal battle ahead".

More than eight years after his arrest, the High Court acquitted Saibaba, lodged in Nagpur Central prison, on Friday and ordered his release from jail, noting that the sanction order issued to prosecute the accused in the case under the stringent provisions of the UAPA was "bad in law and invalid".

It quashed the 2017 order of the trial court convicting Saibaba (52) and sentencing him to life imprisonment for offences under provisions of UAPA and IPC.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)