New Delhi: The academic G.N. Saibaba died on Saturday (October 12) in Hyderabad’s Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital of cardiac arrest, The Wire has learnt.
Saibaba, a former Delhi University professor who was acquitted of terror charges earlier this year, had been suffering from an infection days after undergoing an operation to have his gall bladder removed, his wife Vasantha had said.
Jenny Rowena, a professor at Delhi University, confirmed Saibaba’s death to The Wire. “It is true. I am not in a condition to speak right now,” she said.
Rowena’s husband Hany Babu, also a professor from Delhi University, has been in jail for over four years for his alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad case. Babu, who ran a campaign against Saibaba’s prolonged incarceration, has been close to Saibaba and he came under the National Investigation Agency’s radar for fighting for Saibaba’s release.
Saibaba is survived by his wife Vasantha and a daughter, Manjira.
In March this year, the Bombay high court had acquitted Saibaba and five others in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case against him that accused them of having links to Maoist rebels.
In its judgement, the high court criticised both the state’s probe and the trial court judgment finding the men guilty. The Supreme Court later this year upheld the high court verdict.
Saibaba, who was wheelchair-bound and over 90% handicapped, said after his release that it was “only by chance” that he had come out of jail alive.
During his prolonged incarceration, Vasantha would send out desperate messages to media giving updates on his heath. Each time, she would talk of denied medical care and ill- treatment to Saibaba by the prison administration. Vasantha had for long feared that Saibaba would die while in jail. He did, seven months after he was acquitted and back with his family.
In many interviews after being released, Saibaba spoke how he was denied medical treatment while in jail and that his already compromised condition had further deteriorated during his prolonged incarceration.
Saibaba shared that at the time of his arrest, besides his polio-ridden leg that made him dependent on a wheelchair, he did not have any health issues. But his ten-year long incarceration had compromised most of his vital organs. Both his mental and physical health both had been compromised, Saibaba had claimed in interviews.
He was in need of treatment for a stomach ailment while in jail. He said he’d hoped to be out with his family and undergo treatment from good doctors on the outside, considering the state and the judiciary’s attitude towards his medical needs.
However, his condition worsened with time.
Pandu Narote, a young man who was arrested and later convicted in the same case, died in prison of swine flu in August 2022 amid allegations of delay in treatment. He did not live until the courts finally declared him not guilty.
