Mumbai, May 9, 2022: Ninety per cent physically disabled and wheelchair-bound political prisoner Dr G.N. Saibaba was denied a plastic water bottle by the Nagpur Central Jail authorities on Monday, his advocate said.
Advocate Aakash Sarode told The Hindu, “I had taken permission from the jail authorities to get him a plastic bottle and only then I had got the bottle. No reason was given to me for refusing the bottle. Sai cannot carry a glass bottle because it is heavy and he has severe pain in shoulders and metal bottles are not allowed inside prison.”
He said Saibaba had been requesting the jail authorities to allow a plastic bottle for the last three weeks as it got very hot inside the ‘anda’ cell and the temperature in Nagpur was about 45 degrees.
Saibaba’s wife, Vasantha Kumari, said: “There is a small pot kept in the cell and Sai keeps requesting his helper, who is also a convict, to give him water. But at night when he feels thirsty he can’t wake his inmate and bother him for water. He has started getting unconscious because of the heat and lack of hydration inside the anda cell.”
As per protocol, when any item is sent to a prisoner, it goes to a two-star jailor. After he approves it, it goes to the senior jailor, who also needs to see the items and approve it. However, as per Mr. Saroda, “Without seeing the bottle, the jailor refused to accept it.”
Despite several calls and messages, Superintendent Anupkumar Kumre did not respond to The Hindu. However, some from his office, requesting anonymity, said, “We had given permission for a plain, transparent plastic bottle for Saibaba only on humanitarian grounds because he is handicapped. But what his lawyer got was a jar. Jars are not accepted in jail. If they send a simple plastic water bottle, we will take it.”
It is reported that Saibaba’s left hand is on the verge of failure and there is acute pain spreading in both his hands. He is plagued by pancreatitis, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, chronic back pain, immobility, and sleeplessness.
On March 7, 2017, the Sessions Court at Gadchiroli sentenced him to life imprisonment for alleged links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. His appeal against the judgment is pending before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court for the last five years.
Ranchi District, May 5, 2022: The CPI (Maoist) has given a call to boycott the panchayat elections in Jharkhand state since ‘the condition of rural people remains the same despite several elections’.
CPI (Maoist) Southern Zonal Committee spokesperson Comrade Ashok on Wednesday said the real beneficiaries of the elections would be the ‘mukhiyas’, the ‘pramukhs’, and the zila parishad members who would get salary and huge funds in the name of development.
He urged the villagers to ask the candidates about the shortage of basic facilities in rural areas. “People should ask them why the provisions of the panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Area) act has not been implemented? Why is there a scarcity of drinking water? Why there are no primary health centers? Why irrigation facilities are poor? Why is the number of schools and teachers inadequate? And, why are the state forces setting up camps in villages without the permission of gram sabhas
Mumbai, May 5, 2022: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday again rejected a review application filed by Varavara Rao and two other political prisoners seeking a review of an earlier HC order which refused them default bail in the Elgar Parishad case.
The high court said it finds it difficult to hold there was any factual error in its earlier judgement and requires a review. “No case for exercise of review jurisdiction is made out. A point which was not urged is impermissible to be reviewed,” a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar said, pronouncing the operative portion of the order.
Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves had challenged a December 1, 2021 order that granted default bail to lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused, but denied default bail to eight other accused persons. The high court had reserved the plea for order on March 22.
While Rao is currently out on medical bail, Ferreira and Gonsalves are still in jail. In their pleas, the three petitioners said the HC’s order was based on a “factual error,” as it failed to note that the lower court had rejected the default bail pleas filed by Bharadwaj, as well as them and two other co-accused, through a common order.
Hence, if the high court, in granting bail to Bharadwaj, set aside the lower court order, the others too were entitled to relief, they contended. The case, which is being handled by the NIA, pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
Kozhikode District, May 3, 2022: CPI (Maoist) posters have once again appeared in a public place in Chakkittapara, an upland Grama Panchayat in Kozhikode district. The posters were found to have been affixed on the premises of a bus waiting shed in ward five of the Panchayat, represented by its President K. Sunil. They bear warnings against quarrying and the policies of the State and Central governments.
In the posters, the Maoists have urged the local people to stand united against the granite quarry in the region, by not getting evicted and not selling their properties to the quarry mafia so as to protect the Western Ghats. They highlight the need to protect the agricultural land in Muthukad and the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats, alleging that the State and Central governments were carving out the land for vested interests.
The posters bear strong criticism against the ruling CPM, and term the Panchayat President a local version of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Urging the public to realize the lies of the CPM, the Maoists claim that they are not scared of ‘Thunderbolt’, the special force of the State government to tackle the Maoists.
Similar posters had appeared in Chakkittapara at various locations from time to time, the last time being in September 2021. Meanwhile, the Panchayat President K. Sunil is under Thunderbolt protection round the clock due to the threat on his life from Maoists since August 2021.
Signatures:
Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist
Construction Committee of the Maoist Communist Party of Galicia
Maoist Communist Party – Italy
Communist Party of Nepal (Revolutionary Maoist)
Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan
Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan – Shola Jawid
El Kadehines Party – Tunisia
Maoist Revolutionary League – Sri Lanka
Revolutionary Communists (RK) of Norway
Revolutionary Collective Britain (Formerly RVM)
Red Road Maoist Group of Iran
Communist Party of Switzerland (Red Fraction)
Poder Proletario Organización Partidaria MLM Colombia
Maoist Communist Party Turkey/North Kurdistan
Following the death of senior CPI (Maoist) leader Nirmala alias Narmada Didi in a Maharashtra prison, the party has called for a bandh in Dandakaranya region (south Chhattisgarh state) to close and shut down all activities on April 25.
As per the information received, the 62-year-old Nirmala, who served as an active member of the Maoist party’s Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee for 42 years, died while battling for her life on April 9 in a prison in Maharashtra state. Her demise has created a void in the leadership of the Maoist party.
The CPI (Maoist) holds the government responsible for the death of Maoist leader Nirmala.
The Maoist party has alleged that she died because she had not been provided proper treatment and medicines in jail.
CPI (Maoist) spokesperson Comrade Mangali said in a press note that Nirmala had fallen ill in 2018 and was arrested by police while she was getting treatment in a hospital in Hyderabad in 2019.
The Maoist spokesperson alleged that she had been implicated in more than 100 false cases and that the government had put a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on her head.