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Acquittal of English Professor from Delhi University Rescinded

November 4, 2022

G.N. Saibaba, a former English professor from Delhi University, was arrested in 2014 and convicted in 2017 for alleged links to the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and peaceful academic activities. Very recently, the Bombay High Court acquitted him, but the ruling was recently reversed by India’s Supreme Court, despite his ill health.

https://www.dailyo.in/news/bombay-hc-acquits-uapa-accused-gn-saibaba-but-sc-turns-down-plea-a-glimpse-at-the-professors-political-and-prison-journey-37612

November 4, 2022

Droupadi Murmu
President of the Republic of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi, 110004
Republic of India

Dear President Murmu:

The Committee of Concerned Scientists is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers, and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world.

We are once again asking your government to intercede in the case of Dr. Gokarakonda Naga (G.N.) Saibaba, an English professor at Delhi University serving a life sentence for his advocacy of victims in the conflict between the Indian government, Salwa Judum vigilantes, and the separatist (Maoist) Communist Party of India (CPI).

Dr. Saibaba has been in prison since May 2014, serving a life sentence since March 2017, for his involvement with the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), an organization the government considers linked to the CPI identified by the government as a terrorist organization. It would appear that he is being punished for RDF’s advocacy against the use of military violence – especially by paramilitary forces against civilians in the areas of India most affected by the conflict. He has no prior criminal history.

We wrote you about Dr. Saibaba in April 2018, September 2018, June 2020, May 2021, and January 2022, calling for his release on humanitarian grounds.

CCS feels it is important to write to you again, given the latest developments by the Bombay High Court and its decision to acquit Dr. Saibaba, followed by a ruling of the Supreme Court overturning that decision.

Dr. Saibaba is 55 years old and confined to a wheelchair due to the effects of polio that he had earlier in his life. He also suffers from other health conditions, including recent infections from COVID-19.

The facilities in Nagpur Central Jail, where he is imprisoned, cannot accommodate his disabilities and he is not granted the medical support he needs.

Both Dr. Saibaba’s imprisonment for peaceful activities, and the abusive treatment he is receiving in prison, violate the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Republic of India is a signatory. Therefore, we urge you to release Dr. Saibaba promptly, at least on medical leave, so that he may receive proper treatment at a hospital that can appropriately treat him.

Thank you for your attention to this serious matter. We will be closely following developments in this case.

Sincerely,
signatures
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Cc:
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Minister of External Affairs
Ministry of External Affairs
Government of India
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi, Delhi, India 110001
Email: usdd2@meaindia.in

Antony J. Blinken
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA
Phone: (202) 647-4000

H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu
Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of India
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 1 202 939 7000
Email: psamb.washington@mea.gov.in

Patricia A. Lacina
Chargé D’Affaires
United States Embassy – New Delhi
Panchsheel Marg
Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, 110021
Phone: +011-91-11-2419-8000

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

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David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

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John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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