India: a court acquits Professor Saibaba
Featured image: Saibaba.
On Tuesday the High Court of Bombay acquitted G.N. Saibaba and another five accused of being linked with the Maoists, a case fabricated by the old State that sought to criminalize him for his activity in defense of democratic rights, labeling him as Maoist. The own justice of the old Indian State had admitted this, since they were not able to prove his involvement in anything that he was accused of. The other five acquitted were Mahesh Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote, Hem Keshwdatta Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Vijay. Nan Tirki. Narote died in prison in August of 2022.
It is not the first time that a lower court decided the acquittal and therefore the release of G.N. Saibaba: the most notorious case was when in 2022 it was decided to release him by a Maharashtra court, but later the Supreme Court of the Indian State said that G.N. Saibaba was a threat to national security and decided that he should remain in prison.
Regarding the health of Professor Saibaba and the inhumane treatment by the old Indian State, there were questions even by the United Nations. These questions were not answered. We already reported on his numerous health issues that were worsening because of his encarceration: “After he suffered from polio and problems with his spine in his youth, he was left in a wheelchair. He has several other health problems that are worsening as a result of the terrible conditions of his detention and lack of needed medical assistance.”
Precisely for this reason, activists and organizations for democratic rights denounced that this acquittal arrives very late, and that now no one can give him back his freedom and his lost health condition, and also they have denounced that many other Muslim, Dalit and Adivasi activists are still imprisioned under the UAPA (Unlawful Activity Prevention Act) and they must be released. They have also denounced that this is not something exclusive to the BJP government, but that successive Indian governments have repressed the Indian people in this way.
