Hyderabad: Professor G. N. Saibaba passed away while receiving treatment in Hyderabad. He was 57 years old. Saibaba was arrested by the Maharashtra police in May 2014 on allegations of Maoist connections. Although the Bombay High Court acquitted him in 2022, the Supreme Court stayed that decision. Another bench later reconsidered the case in the Bombay High Court and granted him bail. Saibaba was released from jail last March. He served as an English professor at Ram Lal Anand College under Delhi University, having been appointed there in 2003. Following his arrest, he was suspended from the college.
Born in 1967 into an agricultural family in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, Saibaba had been wheelchair-bound since contracting polio at the age of five. He also faced several other health issues throughout his life. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from SKBR College in Amalapuram and later obtained a Master’s degree in English from the University of Hyderabad, focusing his research on “Indian Writing in English and Nation Making.”
Despite his health challenges, Saibaba was actively involved in social activism. He played a prominent role in the All India People’s Resistance Forum until the birth of his daughter and later joined the Revolutionary Democratic Front, a party with CPI (Maoist) affiliations. He was actively involved in opposing the government’s Operation Green Hunt against Naxalites and criticized government policies towards the Adivasi and Dalit communities.
The beginning of Saibaba’s legal troubles dates back to 2014 when he was arrested on charges of Maoist connections. Police claimed to have found books and pen drives that allegedly established his links with Maoists in his room, leading to the application of the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) against him. The case was transferred from a magistrate’s court to a sessions court, resulting in his arrest. In June 2015, the Bombay High Court granted him bail on health grounds. After being released in July, he was incarcerated again in December of that year.
In 2016, the Supreme Court granted him bail once more. However, in 2017, he and five others were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of criminal conspiracy and involvement with terrorist organizations. One co-defendant received a ten-year prison sentence.
After his conviction, Saibaba appealed to the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in March 2017. In April 2020, considering his deteriorating health, the UN OHCHR urged the central government to intervene for his release. However, on July 28, 2020, his 45-day medical bail application was rejected. In April 2021, he was dismissed from his teaching position at Ram Lal Anand College.
Saibaba approached the Bombay High Court against the sessions court order, and on October 14, 2022, the court acquitted him. However, the Maharashtra government appealed against the Bombay High Court’s ruling in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court suspended the Bombay High Court’s ruling and sent the case back for reconsideration. On March 5, 2024, during the appeal hearing, the Bombay High Court bench, comprising Justices Vinay G. Joshi and Valmiki S. A. Menon, acquitted him again, citing a lack of evidence and procedural lapses by the prosecution.
The Bombay High Court stated that the imprisonment of former Delhi University professor G. N. Saibaba for over eight years on Maoist connection charges constituted a violation of human rights. The court emphasized that judicial processes cannot be compromised in the name of national security while ordering the release of Saibaba and others.
