In a special sitting of the court held to consider a plea against the acquittal, the Supreme Court said that the offences involved are very serious in nature and the accused were convicted after detailed appreciation of evidence. Thus, if the State succeeds on merits, offences are very serious against the interest of the society, sovereignty and integrity of India.

GN Saibaba, a paraplegic academic, was arrested on charges of “waging war” against the country with the help of Maoists eight years ago. The Bombay High Court ordered the other day to release him forthwith.

The decision was appealed against by the Maharashtra government, which approached the Supreme Court. The top court agreed on Friday to hear the plea by the Maharashtra government to put the Bombay High Court order on hold after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s forceful pitch that the acquittal was not justifiable under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA.

Later in the evening, the Supreme Court website said the matter was listed for hearing on Saturday, usually a holiday at the top court, at 11 am by a bench of justices MR Shah and Bela M Trivedi.

Earlier in its order, the court noted: “At this stage, we deem it appropriate to mention that the proceedings have been mentioned before this Court since the Bench presided over by the Chief Justice has risen for the day.”

With inputs from NDTV