'You've a Criminal Record, Your Career is Ruined': Judge Tells Students Booked in Saibaba Event Case

After hearing the matter, the judge deferred further arguments on the anticipatory bail applications to later this month and extended the interim protection earlier granted to the TISS students.

The Wire Staff

After hearing the matter, the judge deferred further arguments on the anticipatory bail applications to later this month and extended the interim protection earlier granted to the TISS students.

you ve a criminal record your career is ruined judge tells students booked in saibaba event case

Representative image of gavel and hammer. Photo: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels.

New Delhi: A sessions court in Mumbai on Monday (January 19) reprimanded nine students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) who have been booked for participating in a programme held to commemorate the death anniversary of former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, cautioning them that the criminal case could seriously damage their career prospects. The court also continued the interim protection from arrest granted to the students.

Additional Sessions Judge Manoj B. Oza, while hearing their anticipatory bail pleas, addressed the students directly as they stood at the back of the courtroom. “You have a criminal record. Now your record is with the police, not just here but everywhere in the country. You know that you have made a blunder so early before your career starts. Your career is ruined,” the judge was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The nine students have been named in an FIR registered by the Trombay police, and their applications seeking anticipatory bail are still pending adjudication. The case relates to an event organised on the TISS campus in Deonar on October 12, 2025, to mark the first death anniversary of Saibaba.

Questioning them about their backgrounds, the judge asked, “How many of you are from outside Maharashtra? You came to study in Maharashtra for all this? Your fathers know about the case? How many of your fathers are in government jobs? You will not get government jobs because of the case,” IE reported.

The judge further noted that even in the private sector, the students would be required to declare the pendency of a criminal case against them. He then sought details from their counsel about the academic programme they were enrolled in.

On being informed that they were pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work, the judge again remarked that the qualification would not guarantee employment. “You think you are scientists or engineers. Even engineers don’t have jobs,” he said, as per IE.

The court was also informed about the previous hearing on December 23, when the special public prosecutor had flagged the absence of the students. Their counsel had then assured the court that they would be present at the next hearing.

After hearing the matter, the judge deferred further arguments on the anticipatory bail applications to later this month and extended the interim protection earlier granted to the students.

The bail pleas were moved in October 2025, following the registration of the FIR based on a complaint by an associate dean of TISS. As part of the probe, the police seized the students’ electronic devices, including mobile phones and laptops.

Saibaba, who was wheelchair-bound and over 90% handicapped, was acquitted by the Bombay high court on March 5, 2024 in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case against him that accused him of having links to Maoist rebels.

This article went live on January twenty-first, two thousand twenty six, at forty-three minutes past four in the afternoon.

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