Was Prof G N Saibaba victim of our insensitive system?
– Vidya Bhushan Rawat
(SAMAJ WEEKLY, UK.)- The death of Prof G N Saibaba in Hyderabad yesterday should haunt our judiciary which were unable to rise up and understand the pain he was going through. That a person with 90% disability yet full of convictions was made as India’s most ‘wanted’ person by the state, equally endorsed by the judiciary as well. I have mentioned it many time that in democracy people might have divergent views and as long as we have faith in constitutional values and democratic dissent, these views ultimately strengthen us.
He was arrested for his ‘alleged’ Maoist links by Maharashtra police on May 9th, 2014. He got released in June 2015 after Bombay High Court gave him bail on medical grounds. Since then, he had been in the jail and all his appeals were rejected by the courts. He was given life imprisonment by a Session court in 2017. His medical bail petition was rejected by the High Court. The most painful part was that he was denied even Parol to attend his mother’s last rites who passed away. He was a brave fighter and went on hunger strike in Jail for installation of CCTV cameras which was accepted by the High Court. On October 14th, 2022, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court actually acquitted him of all the charges under UAPA but that was challenged by the government in the Supreme Court which suspended the judgement and asked the Bombay High Court to reevaluate the case again. On March 5th, 2024, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court reaffirmed its judgement and ordered release of five others arrested along with it.
Prof Sai Baba’s case is similar to father Stan Swamy who were denied bail by the Courts despite his growing health related issues. It reflects how insensitivity has grown inside our judicial system that it is unable to look beyond the ‘official narrative’. At the lower courts, most of the time, no questions are asked to the authorities but when Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court acquitted him, the supreme Court, did not speak up for the right of a person with disability and that he could have been released on the humanitarian grounds. Can law be such insensitive and brutal. How can law be built on the philosophy of ‘tit for tat’. This is the same law, which has been releasing mob lynchers, hate mongers, rapists and murderers without asking any questions. The story of Ram Rahim and many like him is well known to people.
He was kept in the infamous ‘Anda’ Cell in the Nagpur jail where he faced tremendous hardship and difficulty. The state apparatus knows it very well that those people with ideological commitments to social justice will not compromise with their position and hence they are not merely tortured but also mentally harassed and humiliated. One can assume, how much humiliation Prof Sai Baba might have faced in the jail as they wanted to break spirit and that is the reason why he was not provided any helper who could assist him in his movements which he needed.
It is extremely sad how a man who lived life with great dignity and humility was sought to be portrayed as the most dangerous man of India. This is what the state apparatus can do in India. Its priorities are clear. It is building up narrative in a different mode. People are entrapped in the entire social media exercise to get ‘rich’. We need to understand why the Indian middle classes or even poor are not much bothered about the issues they face. It is because the diversionary tactics emerging from the web world, a world which we thought would free us from the yokes of those who control our ideas has ultimately turned into the biggest weapon against us because the it is controlled by the capitalists and their propaganda machinery which decide who is a ‘nationalist’ and who as anti national. That there is not much sympathy for G N Saibaba or Father Stan Swamy or Umar Khalid among the middle classes or even the socalled intellectuals or political parties reflect the environment we are living in. Actually, fear and intimidation have resulted in the silence of the people and other side, the narrative builders continue to portray these exploiters as ‘wealth creators’, most of them, even after massive economic robbery, are living luxurious life even if that might look obscene to us but they have PR agents glorifying their ‘wealth’ and terming that as an ‘achievements’ for the country where hunger and malnutrition is still growing but does not impact us at any level. Web world was never a level playing field and we know it well that it controls the thoughts. Yes, if you don’t have any ideological perception other than that confirm to that of the ruling elite and their hegemonistic system then the world is yours otherwise you will turn out to be the biggest villain.
His wife Vasantha Kumari deserve kudos for fiercely fighting his battle and standing with him rock solid. It is such committed people that there is hope for all. Saibaba is now free where no state can come and chain them. They live with dominant spirit to serve humanity. Both Father Stan Swamy and Prof G N Saibaba’s death reflect the crisis of Indian political class as well as judiciary. Political parties rarely spoke for them and judiciary was unable to look beyond the narrative being spread by the right wing eco system which does not consider that people grow old and can face different issues related to health. How can a ‘rule base order’ deny older people or person with disability, their right to Medicare and help. You don’t need to agree everything what they do but as a citizen of this country, which is governed by a Constitution adopted by those who had faith in our people and most marginalized, we need to stand up and ask the state and its apparatus to be sensitive to the needs of women, elderly and physically challenged. Every individual has a right to defend itself in the court of law and it is the duty of the state to ensure that there is a level playing field and that people get opportunity to defend them. Prof G N Saibaba like father Stan Swamy became victim of the insensitivity and brutality of the state system where the process itself is punishment. He is free now but will his death raise the conscious level of our system or will it continue to kill people through its process and procedures?
