What does the GN Saibaba case say about the state of India?

[00:00:00] Bhootsam ek ke baad, Toadasa Aajadi ka Hawa mein aayahom

[00:00:08] Mujye bhoot takleev ho hain aur meraab fabiat bhoot khraab ho hain

[00:00:14] Meraabhe bhoot myra prayarati hain abhi ilaj karane ke lehe

[00:00:19] Mai bhi chhbhi chhbhool rata ki, Aappolis ho, Aapkau ho, Mujye bata ho, Meraafamili ko bata ho

[00:00:29] Meraa, Teaches ka bata ho, Meraa Unusiti ko inform kar ho, Puch na hi ki ya

[00:00:34] Hello and welcome to All Indians Matter, I am Ashra Fenzhinyar

[00:00:39] I still stubbornly refuse to die. The sad thing is that they don't know how to kill me

[00:00:45] Because I love so much the sound of growing grass

[00:00:49] These were the birds Gokarakunda Naga Saibaba, better known as JN Saibaba

[00:00:54] Wrote on the wall of his cell in Nakhpur Central jail

[00:00:57] The severely disabled professor of English, or at least he was until he was removed from

[00:01:02] his post and human rights activist was released recently from his agonizing stay in jail

[00:01:06] that spanned several years and solitary confinement

[00:01:10] A few days ago the Supreme Court put the final seal of approval on JN Saibaba's acquittal

[00:01:14] in an unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA case over his so-called Maoist links

[00:01:20] by refusing to stay a Bombay High Court judgement acquitting him

[00:01:24] Earlier in 2017 a trial court had convicted and sentenced to life the former Delhi University

[00:01:28] professor in the case

[00:01:30] The High Court had ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove its case

[00:01:34] So who is JN Saibaba? And why is this case emblematic of the crushing of rights

[00:01:39] and the brutal crackdown on dissent in India?

[00:01:42] How did he get through his ordeal?

[00:01:44] And what does his case say about the state of freedom in India?

[00:01:54] May 9, 2014

[00:02:00] JN Saibaba was returning home for lunch from classes when a van curled itself in front

[00:02:05] of his car

[00:02:06] Tires screeched and rubber burned as Saibaba's driver hit the brakes hard

[00:02:10] The driver was yanked out of the car and in his place sat a man in civilian clothing

[00:02:15] Two others got into the back one on each side of Saibaba and they drove straight to the

[00:02:19] airport

[00:02:20] There was no warrant produced and his family was not informed

[00:02:23] He was pushed onto a plane flown to Nakhboor and on landing visged away in an anti-land

[00:02:27] mine vehicle escorted by a convoy of commandos

[00:02:31] The entire operation was styled to make it seem as if a hardcore militant had been apprehended

[00:02:36] Keep in mind this was a wheelchair bound man with near total disability and his greatest

[00:02:41] crime was sympathy for tribals and lower castes

[00:02:44] Saibaba was an activist who had been fighting for years against suppression of the lower

[00:02:48] cast and the displacement of tribals from their forest home lands

[00:02:52] Saibaba grew up in rural community in Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh

[00:02:55] Although he was polio afflicted he did well academically and eventually got involved

[00:02:59] in student politics in university

[00:03:01] Later he became a professor but his activism did not cease

[00:03:05] He was particularly vocal against what was known as Operation Green Hunt carried out by

[00:03:09] the armed forces against Nakhsels in central India

[00:03:12] The armed movement in central India rose from the opposition to the forceful occupation

[00:03:17] of Adiwasi forest land and the rape of forests for their mineral resources

[00:03:21] The campaign that Saibaba opposed had involved several human rights violations against the Adiwases

[00:03:26] The well documented atrocities included extradudicial killings, rapes and even the desecration

[00:03:30] of corpses

[00:03:31] It was estimated that more than 2000 people have lost their lives since 2009 when Operation

[00:03:37] Green Hunt began

[00:03:38] As Saibaba's voice grew louder it could no longer be ignored and he was arrested in 2014

[00:03:43] by the Maharashtra police

[00:03:44] He was immediately suspended by Ram Lala and the college which is a part of Delhi University

[00:03:49] and where he had been a lecturer since 2003

[00:03:52] In 2021 he was sacked while he was in jail

[00:03:55] Shockingly in March 2017 a session scored in Maharashtra's gutcher holy district

[00:03:59] pronounced him and others guilty of activities

[00:04:01] amounting to waging war against the country

[00:04:04] The documents listed as evidence included a letter to his daughter's school headmaster

[00:04:08] one to his college and another to a Heads up at the institute

[00:04:11] The prosecution claimed that the letters written under the name Prakash

[00:04:15] Included communication to Maharashtra bosses

[00:04:17] This order was appealed in the Bombay High Court

[00:04:20] The crushing treatment meted out to Saibaba and jail is enough to turn any one stomach

[00:04:24] He has suffered from permanent post polio paralysis since age 5

[00:04:28] He used to get around by crawling on the ground and wearing slippers on his hands

[00:04:31] until he moved from Hyderabad to New Delhi in 2003 to teach

[00:04:35] That job finally gave him enough money to buy a wheelchair

[00:04:38] During his imprisonment he contracted COVID-19 twice once along with Swain flu

[00:04:43] He was diagnosed with severe conditions like hypertropic cardio myopathie

[00:04:47] With left ventricular dysfunction, a brain cyst, kidney stones and acute cervical spondylitis

[00:04:52] He claims he never got treatment in jail

[00:04:55] His wife Kumari said he would faint frequently

[00:04:57] And that he required physiotherapy and cardiac monitoring

[00:05:00] But it was never made available

[00:05:01] In 2022 Saibaba went on a four day hunger strike to get a plastic water bottle in his cell

[00:05:06] He also demanded an end to the CCTV recording of the toilet and bathing area

[00:05:11] Eventually he was allowed a water bottle and the camera angle was changed

[00:05:14] Perhaps what hurt him most was the denial of permission to attend his mother's funeral in 2020

[00:05:19] This at a time when rapists and other criminals are frequently granted parole

[00:05:23] However, he claimed when it came to him, this state ensured he was never let out

[00:05:28] He said and I quote, my mother passed away when I was in prison in 2020

[00:05:32] Being a disabled child, my mother brought me up with great care

[00:05:35] She took me in arms to school

[00:05:37] I was not allowed to see her before her death

[00:05:39] I was denied parole to go see her

[00:05:41] After that, I was denied to attend her funeral

[00:05:43] I was denied parole to attend the post-funeral functions of rights

[00:05:47] Who is the criminal in this country?

[00:05:48] Who is denied these kinds of rights?

[00:05:51] Stop quote

[00:05:52] Such was his situation that the United Nations special envoy on human rights

[00:05:56] Mary Lawler, term Saibaba's detention has quote unquote inhumane

[00:06:00] She pointed out that he was incarcerated in a tiny windowless cell

[00:06:03] That had a framework of iron bars

[00:06:05] This exposed him to extreme weather, especially the Nakhpur summer

[00:06:08] Saibaba said this was how prisoners were regularly treated

[00:06:12] His co-occused Pandu Kauran Arote

[00:06:14] He said died before his eyes in August 2022 while in custody

[00:06:19] He had been unwell but was not taken to hospital till it was too late

[00:06:22] By then, Narote was breathing profusely from his eyes and passing blood in his urine

[00:06:26] No wonder Saibaba said and I quote, he was killed

[00:06:29] It was murder, stop quote

[00:06:32] He also pointed to Surin the Gaddling, a lawyer who defended him

[00:06:35] And who is himself now jailed in the Algar Parishad case

[00:06:38] Saibaba said Gaddling has developed a heart condition

[00:06:40] He said life saving drugs prescribed by doctors were denied to Gaddling

[00:06:44] When his family sent medicines, the packet went missing

[00:06:47] Upon his release, Saibaba told the press that his nervous system had broken down

[00:06:50] After he was quote unquote man-handled by the police

[00:06:53] He added and I quote, my left hand is still swollen after 10 years

[00:06:57] As the police dragged me with my left hand

[00:06:59] But no treatment was given so it is still swollen like this

[00:07:02] For 9 months I suffered during the trial period

[00:07:05] And after 9 months when I was taken to hospital

[00:07:07] It was too late and doctors said they can't revive the nervous system

[00:07:10] And muscles now, stop quote

[00:07:12] Despite suffering from shooting pain and muscles pasm in his left side

[00:07:16] Saibaba said he was never taken to a doctor

[00:07:18] Despite one being available just a few meters away

[00:07:21] Meanwhile, the phone served in prison

[00:07:23] Let Saibaba to develop gall bladder stones and acute chronic pancreatitis

[00:07:27] Doctors prescribed treatments but Saibaba said jail authorities never implemented them

[00:07:32] A doctor prescribed full time monitoring of the heart, but this was never done

[00:07:35] Another suggested surgical repair of Saibaba's nerves and muscles

[00:07:39] But that too was ignored

[00:07:40] Saibaba said he was allowed medicine sent by his family

[00:07:43] Only after a 10 day hunger strike

[00:07:45] Such treatment of a severely disabled person speaks volumes

[00:07:48] Of the state of human rights and democracy in India

[00:07:51] Why was he meet to undergo this?

[00:07:53] Mandirran Narayan, retired math professor

[00:07:55] And former president of the Delhi University Teachers Association

[00:07:58] Told Al Jazeera that it was because Saibaba was a powerful voice for Adiwasi rights

[00:08:03] She said and I quote

[00:08:04] The state is particularly bent on silencing voices in support of tribal rights

[00:08:08] In areas where a corporate plunder is taking place

[00:08:11] Because the land is very mineral rich

[00:08:13] He posed a greater challenge to the state and the corporates

[00:08:16] That is why they wanted to silence him

[00:08:18] Stop quote

[00:08:19] Activists now demanding among other things that Saibaba be reinstated in his job

[00:08:23] And given compensation

[00:08:24] They also demanded comprehensive action against those who register fake charges against anyone

[00:08:29] The demand for his reinstatement was supported by the committee for the defence and release of Dr. J.N. Saibaba

[00:08:34] Which includes lawyers, academicians and politicians from the left

[00:08:38] While Saibaba's release is a significant victory for human rights and freedom

[00:08:41] There are way too many political prisoners in India for anyone to celebrate just yet

[00:08:46] There is deep concern over the government jailing activists and human rights defenders

[00:08:50] Such as Umar Khalid and Sharjali Mam

[00:08:52] There is even greater concern over court-stowing the government line

[00:08:55] All political prisoners must be freed immediately

[00:08:58] Without that complete freedom is elusive

[00:09:01] The unjust arrests, the prolonged incas relations, the denial of bail or parole

[00:09:05] These are crimes against humanity and must be treated as such

[00:09:08] They happen because an oppressive state fears the truth coming out

[00:09:12] It fears the truth being recognised as the truth and the backlash that will follow

[00:09:16] That's why there is an attempt to drown out voices

[00:09:18] Through the liberal handing out of labels such as anti-national,

[00:09:21] secular, liptored, congresy, urban, and natural

[00:09:25] When the truth is spoken it is regularly labeled as incitement

[00:09:28] And the courts are often not willing to do anything about it

[00:09:31] But is it incitement to point out that tribals for whom much love is expressed by the government

[00:09:36] A murder draped and displaced because under their feet lie millions of tons of coal or box site

[00:09:42] Is it incitement to point out the humiliation and exploitation suffered every day by lower castes

[00:09:48] Is it incitement to point out the attempt to convert minorities into second class citizens

[00:09:52] And to question their very citizenship

[00:09:55] The ideas of freedom, human rights, democracy have all been termed incitement

[00:10:00] At some stage or the other through history

[00:10:02] So let me end with the words of the renowned Justice Oliver Vendel Holmes

[00:10:06] An echoed every idea is an incitement

[00:10:10] It offers itself a belief and if believed

[00:10:12] It is acted on unless some other belief outweighs it

[00:10:15] Or some failure of energy stifles the movement at its birth

[00:10:18] Stop quote

[00:10:20] The propagation of every idea then

[00:10:22] Cannot be anti-national, seditious or a crime

[00:10:30] Thank you all for listening

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