"It's A Wonder I Came Out Of Jail Alive": Ex Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba

Former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, who was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday after his acquittal in an alleged Maoist links case, said it's a "wonder that he could come out alive" despite suffering the "brutal" jail life.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday set aside the life sentence of Mr Saibaba, noting that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

"There was every chance that I would not have come out alive," Mr Saibaba told media persons. He had earlier refused to talk to the press saying, "My health is very bad. I can't talk. I will have to first take medical treatment, and then only I will be able to speak." The former DU professor, who depends on a wheelchair for mobility, said he changed his mind after requests from lawyers and reporters. Mr Saibaba said he would be visiting doctors soon.

Recalling his eight years of incarceration, which he described as "very rigorous and brutal", Mr Saibaba said he had no accessibility inside the prison.

"I couldn't pull up, I could not move out of my wheelchair. I could not go to the toilet (on my own), I could not take a bath. It's a wonder that I came out of the prison alive today," he said, stressing that there was every chance that he could not have made it.

The former professor also called the case against him a fabricated one.

"Today, you can see, not once but twice, that the higher judiciary confirmed that this case is without facts, evidence and any legally viable matter. Why has it drawn so long? Ten years of my life and my co-accused's life. Who will bring them back?" A family member was waiting for Mr Saibaba outside the jail when he came out in the morning.

Mr Saibaba had been lodged in the jail here 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.

The High Court on Tuesday overturned Mr Saibaba's sentence, terming the sanction for prosecution granted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as "null and void." The court said the sanction given under UAPA by the state authority was without application of mind and the report submitted by the independent authority recommending invocation of UAPA provisions in the case was "cryptic and a laconic half page communication".

The bench also noted that seizure of some pamphlets and electronic data from the accused merely demonstrated that they were sympathisers of the Maoist philosophy.

In March 2017, a sessions court in Gadchiroli convicted Saibaba and five others, including a journalist and a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, for alleged Maoist links and for indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country.

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