Police in Mumbai have registered a case against students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences for allegedly holding an unapproved event to mark the death anniversary of former DU professor G N Saibaba and raising slogans in support of Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid.
Saibaba is wheelchair-bound with 90 per cent physical disabilities.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday set aside the life sentence of Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case, noting that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
Saibaba, an assistant professor of English, was suspended after his arrest by the Maharashtra Police in 2014. His wife and daughters were receiving half of his salary since the arrest.
Delhi University on Thursday suspended G N Saibaba, English professor at Ram Lal Anand College, following his arrest for alleged links with Maoists.
A student activist and "independent journalist" from Kerala, Rejaz M. Sheeba Sydeek, has been arrested in Nagpur for allegedly "preparing to wage war against the Government of India." The arrest was made after Sydeek allegedly condemned Operation Sindoor, an Indian Armed Forces operation against terror targets in Pakistan, and criticized operations against Naxalites on his Instagram account. Police found a book about professor G N Saibaba, who faced trial for alleged links with Naxalism, and another about Marxism-Leninism in Sydeek's bag. An English letter seized from his possession appeared to criticize the Indian government for anti-Naxal operations and called for "peace talks between the Indian state and the (banned) CPI (Maoist)".
'My health is very bad. I can't talk. I will have to first take medical treatment, and then only I will able to speak'
Saibaba died at due to gall bladder infection and other complications.
'Every report I filed for Rediff.com on the professor's incarceration, would leave me wondering for days, at the depth of the State's malevolence towards this disabled professor, and his equally deep capacity to tolerate it,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.' 'No country in the world would do what our country was doing to someone so helpless.'
The bench also rejected the oral request of Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Maharashtra government for early listing of the appeal and said it will come in due course.
Despite being 90% handicapped, suffering from multiple ailments and dependent on a wheelchair, the former Delhi University professor has not been able to step out of the anda cell of the Nagpur Jail at all since his conviction.
He could have blazed a trail that few Indian judges had. It was a missed opportunity of a lifetime, notes Ramesh Menon.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Bombay high court order acquitting former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in a Maoist links case and remanded it back to the high court for fresh consideration on merits within four months.
Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, who was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday after his acquittal in an alleged Maoist links case, said it's a 'wonder that he could come out alive' despite suffering the 'brutal' jail life.
Bombay High Court Justice Rohit Deo on Friday said he has resigned.
'He did not do anything wrong. There was no crime and no evidence'
'We were sure our appeal would succeed. We knew we could break down the evidence and show it was hollow.'
'The strategy of frontal organisations of the Maoists is to create unrest and ensure that such unrest leads to a law and order problem.' 'To cover such acts it was necessary to bring in a different definition of unlawful activities which is different from the definition of unlawful activities in the UAPA.'
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Bombay high court order acquitting Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba in a case relating to his alleged Maoist links.
'Those giving voice to the voiceless should be welcomed, not punished.' 'Yes, I paid a price -- 10 years in jail -- but it wasn't only me who did so. There are many paying the price.'
His spine, his heart, his pancreas -- one by one, all his organs have weakened, given the lack of medical treatment in jail, where he is kept in the notorious Anda cell. Continuous pain, frequent fainting spells, urinary problems, have all become part of his life.
This is not the first time the Nagpur Jail authorities are being accused of negligence towards their inmates.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Saturday Maharashtra's plea for a stay on the Bombay high court order acquitting G N Saibaba, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's persistent pitch that the acquittal was not on merit but for want of appropriate sanction to prosecute him under the anti-terror law UAPA.
In the Nagpur Central Jail, a COVID-19 patient who has been complaining since the last 10 days of high fever, breathlessness, joint pain, cold and sore throat, is being treated in jail quarantine. The prisoner is Professor G N Saibaba, 90% handicapped, wheelchair-bound, with a damaged heart and pancreas; dependent on others even for his essential bodily functions.
'Sanction serves the salutary object of providing safeguard to the accused from unwarranted prosecution and the agony and trauma of trial, and in the context of the stringent provisions of the UAPA, is an integral facet of due process of law.' If the report to the sanctioning officer for the first five accused in the case lacked the qualities required under the law, then for Professor Saibaba, the sanction came much after his trial had started!
A Supreme Court bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice Bela M Trivedi in a special sitting on Saturday upheld the Maharashtra government's plea and suspended the Bombay high court order acquitting former Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba in a case relating to his alleged Maoist links.
The SC, however, rejected NIA's request for immediate stay to the order.
'Saibaba has 19 ailments, including severe heart and kidney problems.' 'Even healthy persons find their systems failing after Covid.' 'What will happen to someone like Saibaba?', Professor G N Saibaba's wife asks Jyoti Punwani.
'When there was no crime committed, everything had to be fabricated. They see it as a war, and everything is fair in love and war.'
Maharashtra Police on Thursday questioned Delhi University professor G N Saibaba for his alleged links with Maoists, the second time in three months.
'The leaders of this country are flying the plane in reverse, everything is falling'
Fed up with the treatment at the Nagpur central jail, his advocate has decided he will no longer deliver anything for Professor Saibaba, leaving it to the jail authorities to fulfill their legal responsibility to look after the professor.
Right from his arrest in May 2014, the Nagpur jail authorities have denied Professor Saibaba his basic rights, even flouting court orders in the process.
'He is in a wheelchair, his joints are swollen and he is in great pain.' A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com speaks to colleagues and students of the polio-afflicted Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba, who was arrested on May 9 for alleged Naxalite links.
The case pertains to the organisation of Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017 which promoted enmity between various caste groups and led to violence, resulting in the loss of life and property and statewide agitation in Maharashtra, an NIA spokesperson said.
'We had 110 Adivasis who were languishing in jail for nearly five years because it was claimed they were responsible for some blasts.' 'When the time to give the proof came, they had no proof to show.' 'Then the people are let free, totally exonerated, but their lives are totally shattered.' 'Not only their lives, but the lives of their families.'
Saibaba, who was on bail till December 31, gave himself up to jail authorities on Friday night, prison sources said on Saturday.
'People accused of mass murder and worse are let out on medical grounds.' 'Saibaba is now 100% handicapped, and has committed no murder, yet he is not allowed to come out.'
It took a five-day hunger strike by the former Delhi University professor, in jail without a break for five years after being convicted of links with Maoists, for the jail administration to agree to his request for a water bottle.
The SC refused to stay a criminal contempt notice issued by the Bombay HC against author Arundhati Roy for an article questioning the incarceration of DU professor G N Saibaba.
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