New Delhi: Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba and 4 others were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment for links with a Maoist front organisation, and for carrying out ‘anti-national’ activities.
All 5 men were sentenced under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), said an NDTV report.
Saibaba, who is 90 per cent disabled and bound to a wheelchair, was first arrested in May 2014. However, he was given bail by the Supreme Court last year after he pleaded that his health was deteriorating fast in jail.
Saibaba had approached the Supreme Court after the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court cancelled his bail, and he was sent back to the Nagpur Central jail on December 2015.
Saibaba suffers from a serious heart condition and needs help for every task including bathing, eating, washing and even going to the toilet, said the report.
While in jail, he was dragged by his hands by guards, which ruptured his nerves from his neck to his left shoulder and made his left hand immobile. He also fell unconscious several times during the 14 months he spent in prison.
Saibaba has been barred from entering the campus of Ram Lal Anand College, where he is a teacher. His salary has been halved by college authorities after instructions from the University authorities, who pushed his family out of the campus after his arrest. He has also been physically assaulted several times, said the report.
A robust online campaign demanding ‘justice’ for the professor has been launched.
