Supreme Court grants bail to Prof Saibaba, criticises Maharashtra Govt. for opposing

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, who was arrested in May 2014 for alleged links with a banned Maoist outfit.

The apex court also pulled up the Maharashtra Government's counsel for opposing the bail.

"You have been extremely unfair to the accused...specially considering his health. If material witnesses have been examined, then why do you want him in jail. You are unnecessarily harassing the petitioner," Justice Khehar said.

Professor Saibaba was arrested in May 2014 for alleged links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

He was initially granted bail in July 2015, but has been in prison since December last year after a single-judge bench of the Bombay High Court in Nagpur cancelled his bail.

The wheelchair-bound professor, who is paralysed from waist-downwards due to polio, is more than 90% disabled.

The professor had suffered damage to muscles in his left shoulder and the nerve system during his imprisonment due to inadequate facilities in the jail.

Speaking to ANI in July last year, Professor Saibaba had said that jail should be a correctional institution and not a torture centre, adding that the reason for his illness was the torture he went through.

"How a person feels when he or she loses his freedom and rights, I have experienced that feeling. After coming out of jail I have realised the value of freedom in a person's life. Jail should be a correctional institution and police officer should behave like a correction officer. Everyday people are tortured in the jail. People are beaten, insulted and mercilessly tortured," Saibaba he told ANI in July 2015.

Earlier, in a letter, Professor Saibaba had stated that he has been suffering from multiple ailments of severe nature, because of which he is taking regular treatment at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC).