Doctors’ Associations and medical professionals call for urgent bail for Dr. G.N. Saibaba due to his deteriorating health
Letter regarding Professor Saibaba Date 30/08/2022
On June 22, 2022 Civil society organizations and academic organizations from around the world issued a joint letter to the Chief Justice of India expressing grave concern over the health of incarcerated English professor and social justice activist, G.N. Saibaba. We join their call to grant Professor Saibaba medical bail and ensure that he gets immediate medical attention in a hospital. Professor Saibaba, who is ninety percent disabled and wheelchair bound and has tested positive for Covid twice, is currently held in solitary confinement in the notorious Anda cell in Nagpur. He recently went on a hunger strike demanding access to a water bottle and the removal of CCTV cameras facing the toilet. He is steadily losing the functioning of his vital organs. His wife, Vasantha Kumari, has reported to the press that Saibaba falls frequently unconscious in his cell, suffers from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (heart problem), hypertension, paraplegia, kyphoscoliosis of the spine, acute pancreatitis, and gall-bladder stones among other medical complications. His life sentence has effectively turned into a death sentence.
Just few days ago, on August 26, Pandu Narote, an associate of Professor Saibaba, also arrested under the dreaded UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), died in custody. He was a healthy thirty-five-year-old, and is said to have died of swine flu. Last year Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest, also accused under the UAPA, died in custody at the age of 84. This pattern of custodial death of those held as "anti-nationals" has to stop. In July 2021, campaigners highlighted covid threat to political prisoners in India.
There will be a hearing in the High Court in Nagpur on September 5th on Professor Saibaba’s plea for bail on medical and humanitarian grounds. As members of the international medical community, we are deeply concerned about Professor Saibaba's deteriorating health and urge that he be granted bail on medical and humanitarian grounds.
For medical professionals: endorse the open letter here.
Signed:
Doctors in Unite, UK
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, US
The letter is an initiative of South Asia Solidarity Group and InSAF India