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.
A violent clash broke out between two groups of students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Friday during a 'Visarjan Shobha Yatra' organised on the occasion of Vijayadashami, following the nine-day Navratri celebrations.
Saibaba died at due to gall bladder infection and other complications.
In a statement, the non-governmental organisation underscored the challenges Saibaba faced during his incarceration and the toll it took on his health.
'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'
'We were sure our appeal would succeed. We knew we could break down the evidence and show it was hollow.'
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.
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.
'It was like an 'agni pariksha' for me. I had to go through a test by fire twice'
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.
India's T20I Captain Suryakumar Yadav and his wife Devisha Shetty worshipped at the Sai Baba temple in Shirdi.
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.
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)".
Two employees of the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust were stabbed to death, and another person was injured in separate robbery bids in Shirdi, Maharashtra. The police have apprehended one suspect and are searching for another in connection with the attacks that occurred early Monday morning. The victims, Subhash Sahebrao Ghode and Nitin Krishna Shejul, were employees of the trust, which manages the famous Saibaba Temple in Shirdi. The attacks took place within an hour, and police believe robbery was the sole motive. Multiple cases have been filed against the suspects.
'He did not do anything wrong. There was no crime and no evidence'
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.
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.
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.
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.
The SC, however, rejected NIA's request for immediate stay to the order.
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.
'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.'
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.
'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.
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.
Ajay Sharma, the chief of Sanatan Rakshak Dal, had on Wednesday said they have removed Sai Baba's idol from 14 temples so far, including the idol of Sai Baba at the Bada Ganesh temple in Lohatia.
Saibaba is wheelchair-bound with 90 per cent physical disabilities.
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.
There was no report of devotees facing any inconvenience even as shops and eateries downed their shutters and vehicles remained off roads.
Jyotispeethadheeswar Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, who was scheduled to participate in the "Gau Dhwaj" hoisting programme at the Ram temple in Shimla, boycotted the event and did not visit the shrine.
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.
Saibaba, who was on bail till December 31, gave himself up to jail authorities on Friday night, prison sources said on Saturday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday assured his government will continue the Ladki Bahin Yojana and fulfil Mahayuti's pre-poll promise of hiking the monthly stipend under the scheme to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,500 now to eligible women.
Suspended Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba and five others were on Tuesday convicted by a sessions court for their links with the Maoists.
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.
"You have been extremely unfair to the accused, especially looking at his medical condition. If material witnesses have been examined, then there is no point in putting him in jail," the bench said to the police.
He could have blazed a trail that few Indian judges had. It was a missed opportunity of a lifetime, notes Ramesh Menon.
'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.'
Delhi University on Thursday suspended G N Saibaba, English professor at Ram Lal Anand College, following his arrest for alleged links with Maoists.