Academicians, activists welcome bail to DU prof GN Saiaba

Academicians from Delhi University and JNU and several activists, including Arundhati Roy, today welcomed the bail granted by the SC to G N Saibaba who was arrested for alleged Maoist links.
The academicians and activists, who are also members of the Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr GN Saibaba, a DU professor, issued a statement saying "this is indeed a much needed and long awaited relief for Saibaba who has been languishing in the anda cell of the Nagpur Central Jail..."
"If the stance taken by the state in the court proceedings today is any indication, the intimidatory tactics adopted by the state machinery against those who are relentlessly engaged in the struggle for the oppressed and the downtrodden is far from over," it added.

An English professor at Ram Lal Anand College, Saibaba was suspended from DU after he was arrested by Maharashtra Police in 2014 for alleged Maoist links. He was lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail for 14 months and granted bail in July 2015 after the court noticed his deteriorating health condition.
However, the bail was cancelled and he was re-arrested in December last.
The Supreme Court today granted him bail saying Maharashtra government has been "extremely unfair" to him.
JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid who are out on bail in a sedition case over an event on campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, termed bail to Saibaba as "good news".

"GN Saibaba has been granted bail forthwith by the Supreme Court. Glad that the court has dismissed the argument that Saibaba would indulge in anti-national activities if released on bail as baseless and ordered his immediate release," said Banojyotsana Lahiri, JNU alumni and Ambedkar university professor who was also under the scanner for the February 9 event.