Can't live without teaching, want my job back: Acquitted former DU professor G N Saibaba
New Delhi, Mar 8: Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba demanded that he be reinstated by the varsity and compensated for the lost years of service following his acquittal by the Bombay High Court in a Maoist links case.
The Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr GN Saibaba comprising academicians, lawyers and Left politicians demanded his reinstatement and compensation for all the six people who were released from the Nagpur Central Jail after the court declared in its judgement that the prosecution failed to establish charges against them.
Addressing a press conference here, the 58-year-old said he can't live without teaching and wants to resume his job as a professor. Saibaba was terminated from his service from DU's Ram Lal Anand College in 2021 after being implicated in the case.
He said he still feels as if he is in a jail cell after spending seven years in prison.
He was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday, two days after his acquittal.
Talking about his family, he said they survived only on hope but regretted not being able to meet his mother on her deathbed and claimed he was denied bail to perform her last rites.
"Instead of going to the hospital, I chose to speak to the press because you supported me. My family faced stigma and I was called a terrorist," he said with tears in his eyes.
Recalling his "jail ordeal" Saibaba claimed he was forced to live in cramped conditions and was denied medicines and treatment prescribed by doctors for his ailing health.
"I was imprisoned in a jail which has a capacity of 1,500 inmates but 3,000 people were lodged there in cramped conditions. There was no space to even sleep. Without a wheelchair I use to struggle to use toilet, take bath or even fetch myself a class of water. There was not even a single ramp in the prison for people like me," he said in a chocked voice.
"Today I am alive in front of you. But every organ of my body is failing. I faced many medical emergencies in the jail but they only gave me painkillers and did a few tests," he added.
Saibaba said that his family faced stigma because he was framed in a case under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Saibaba was lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail since 2017 after his conviction by a trial court in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. Before that, he was in prison from 2014 to 2016 and was subsequently granted bail.
"I am still not able to register that I am free. I feel I am still lodged in the notorious jail cell. It was like an 'agni pariksha' for me. I had to go through a test by fire twice," he said.
Thanking his lawyers, friends, and activists, he said one his lawyers fought his case without any fees.
"Another lawyer got jailed because of supporting me. During the trial, certain police officers threatened my lawyers," he alleged.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
