The People’s Union for Civil Liberties expressed deep grief on the untimely demise of Dr. Saibaba, caused because of postoperative complications related to the surgery of his gallbladder. It pointed out that the most tragic part about this demise is that within seven months of having found freedom; after completely erasing his name from the fabricated case, we lost Saibaba to death.
“He could not enjoy the freedom, and caved in to the simplest procedure of gall bladder removal, due to cumulative ill health. While at the time of his arrest, Dr. Saibaba was disabled, his multiple health problems were caused during and possibly because of his incarceration and worsened due to failure to provide him with adequate healthcare during his imprisonment.” – the PUCL pointed out.
It is important to see the death of Saibaba and others, in a framework of denial of health care as a denial of human right (recognised as such by the Supreme Court as part of fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution), and the denial of medical bail.
In 2021, 83 year old Father Stan died while under judicial custody, due to undetected COVID, and when proper medical intervention finally reached him it was too late. Similarly, the death of 35 year old Pandu Narote, a co accused with Dr. Saibaba, who died in 2022, due to gross neglect of a fever, which he contracted in Jail.
It is important to ask, as to why the Investigating agencies, jail administrators, and a section of the judiciary, hold such disregard for the old, disabled and the infirm that they argue against the granting of bail to people, booked under UAPA, in the name of threat to national security. Why is the state punishing people, by denying them dignity, medical treatment, access to loved ones, keeping them behind bars endlessly, when bail is the rule and jail the exception.
Beginning with Dr. Binayak Sen, 2007, to Saibaba, 2014, to the arrestees in the Bhima Koregaon case, 2018, the CAA NRC movement in Delhi in 2020 and countless other activists in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha, who have all been victims of state violence.
The war by sections of the Indian State on its people reached a peak, with the experiment of Salwa Judum in 2005 in Bastar, conducted under the leadership of the erstwhile CM Raman Singh and the Congress leader of the opposition Mahendra Karma, with full support of the Congress led UPA Government. This was followed by the infamous Operation Green hunt 2009, initiated by the centre, under the leadership of the erstwhile Home Minister 2/3 Chidambaram. It was in the context of activists exposing this conspiracy which was Adivasis who were only trying to protect their land and challenging displacement that Saibaba, came under the scanner, as he along with others were helping organise protests and public meetings in Delhi against this larger agenda. Saibaba was not alone in providing platforms to the voices demanding justice, but he was targeted as he was a English Literature teacher in Delhi University with a following of students. They hated his guts.
The fear of some of the state agencies of the Professor was obvious, when Dr. Saibaba, was fixed in an insignificant case of 2014, where his name was not even in the FIR, for having Maoists links and on the allegation of introducing two co accused to Maoists. The ten year ordeal started in 2014 itself, with his name being added later. Pre-arrest raids were conducted in Saibaba’s house in 2013 itself, violating mandatory provisions for search. His computer, with most of his academic work, was taken away. Later Maharashtra police sleuths swooped down on him when he was in his South Delhi campus college, arrested him and took him away in early May of 2014, when the UPA was still in power. The Maharashtra police and a section of the judiciary, who had complete disregard for the 90% disabled Dr. Saibaba, threw him into the Anda cell of the Nagpur High Security Prison, the worst place to be in for any prisoner. He was denied various facilities related to maintaining his dignity as a prisoner.
No Commode, no bed, no bail, not even me bail. Although granted medical bail subsequently in 2016 (under circumstances which cr 2/3 a different kind of controversy), he and his co accused were convicted by the Sessions Court soon after in 2017 under the draconian UAPA sections and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was back in Nagpur Jail. He was soon after dismissed from service. In jail, his health steadily deteriorated. He was denied the opportunity of being examined and treated in better hospitals, he was just taken back and forth from the Jail to the Nagpur Government Hospital, each visit being a nightmare due to his health and disability conditions. Even visits and phone calls were made difficult for him.
Despite being treated so shabbily, he continued writing poems and insightful letters, giving a commentary on how a disabled person is treated in jail and what was happening to other prisoners. In 2022, one of the younger co – accused, Pandu Narote, died in Prison- a case of gross neglect of his health issues. The prison department of Maharashtra and the Home Ministry did not even conduct any serious enquiry regarding this, like they did not do in the case of Father Stan in 2021 This added to the pain of Saibaba in the Jail.
It was only in October 2022, that the Bombay High Court Nagpur bench, decided to dismiss the prosecution’s case against Saibaba and others on grounds of procedural lapses. The Maharashtra state, immediately got a stay from the Supreme Court on this dismissal (in an unprecedented Saturday hearing in a case of acquittal) and Saibaba continued to be in jail. Finally, after 9 months, the case was sent back to the Bombay High Court, for a rehearing. The High Court in March, 2024, once again dismissed the prosecution case, not just on procedural lapses, but also on merits and Saibaba and his co-accused were set free by 7th March, 2024. Fortunately this time the Supreme Court refused to stay his release.
The loss of Saibaba to the Human rights and academic community is immense, An activist, from being a part of OBC reservation movements, to working with farmers movements, to protesting against crimes against Dalits and Adivasis along with challenging the brute repression by segments of the Indian state in Tribal areas of India. He always said that his academics informed his activism and his academics. He could always understand his students better and communicate better due to his activism.
Lastly, the PUCL will continue to strive to keep the dreams of Saibaba alive and continue working towards justice for the downtrodden since both his dreams and justice for the downtrodden are nothing else but centrally ingrained components of universal human rights. One of immediate tasks would be to rebuild the campaign against the UAPA, demanding its repeal.”
