‘Stay in jail was like agni pariksha for me’: Former DU professor Saibaba

Speaking at a press conference at HKS Surjeet Bhawan near ITO, Saibaba termed his incarceration and release as “justice delayed”

Former Delhi University professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba on Friday said that he spent seven years inside the prison in “inhumane conditions” and termed his incarceration an “agni pariksha” (trial by fire) — a day after he was released from the Nagpur Central Jail. Saibaba was released from prison on Thursday after being acquitted by the Bombay high court along with five others as the prosecution failed to prove their suspected links with Maoist rebels.

Dr. GN Saibaba during an interaction with the media at HKS Surjeet Bhawan, Near ITO in New Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

Read here: Was my test by fire, says GN Saibaba after his release from jail after 7 years

Speaking at a press conference at HKS Surjeet Bhawan near ITO, Saibaba termed his incarceration and release as “justice delayed”.

“I spent seven years inside the prison in inhumane conditions and still feel I am inside that notorious dark anda cell (high-security prison),” said Saibaba.

“I am unable to come to terms that I am out of that anda cell, where I only looked at closed walls for seven years. I still feel I am inside. It was like an ‘agni pariksha’ for me,” he added.

Saibaba told reporters that he had no serious health condition before he was arrested. “Today I am in front of you alive, but every organ of my body is failing me because I was denied treatment, and medicines sent by my family were returned.”

The professor was arrested in May 2014 and remained in jail till 2016 before being released on bail. The Gadchiroli district session court in 2017 convicted Saibaba under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA. After his conviction, he was lodged inside Nagpur Central Jail.

While overturning the 2017 judgment, Bombay high court’s Nagpur bench on Tuesday emphasised that merely accessing content related to communist or Maoist ideologies was not inherently illegal unless there was concrete evidence linking the accused to specific acts of violence or terrorism.

The former professor said that the process (of trial) in the Indian judicial system was punishing, but there was “hope”.

Recalling the instance when he was denied parole to attend his mother’s funeral, Saibaba said: “Being a disabled child, my mother took me to school in her arms every day so that I could get an education. Before she passed away in August 2020, she had one wish that she could see me, but I was not allowed to see her in her death... Who is treated like this in a democracy?”

Read here: Literary pursuit vs criminal intent: Decoding the Saibaba verdict

Responding to a question by a reporter, Saibaba also said he wants to be reinstated as the DU professor.

Also speaking at the conference, Communist Part of India leader D Raja said: “I salute Saibaba for his courage.”