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A big success for international meeting in Milan of ICSPWI
report in the next days – launched an international week of actions for 20/27 january 2018
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Political Prisoner G N Saibaba’s Medical Condition Critical As Prison Authorities Continue To Deny Him Treatment
Wife of Saibaba, a former DU professor serving a life sentence for ‘Naxal links’, has alleged ill-treatment in Nagpur jail. Authorities deny allegation.
New Delhi/Mumbai: Former Delhi University professor, G.N. Saibaba, serving a life sentence for alleged Maoist links, has claimed that his deteriorating health and poor conditions at Nagpur Central Jail, where he is incarcerated, have reduced him to a “cot-ridden old man” and a “dump of shrunken flesh and dried bones”.
In a letter to his wife, the wheel-chair-bound Saibaba, who is 90 per cent disabled, has also alleged that he has been put on solitary confinement in a prison cell that does not address his disability needs.
“The very architecture of this prison renders me totally helpless. There is no accessibility for me in any aspect. I have been reduced to ‘a cot-ridden old man’,” he has written in his letter which has been accessed by ThePrint.
“Inside the cell, I cannot approach the toilet in my wheelchair. Two persons have to take me or hold me in my wheelchair to go for urine or defecation or for taking a bath,” he has added.
Saibaba’s wife, G. Vasantha, told ThePrint that jail authorities have allegedly refused to provide proper treatment for her husband who suffers from a number of ailments.
“My husband has a problem in his pancreas and recently developed a tumour on the lower portion of his body. The jail authorities refuse to give him proper treatment and they don’t know how to deal with a disabled person,” Vasantha said. “They have also kept him in an anda cell (solitary confinement), where there is hardly any space for him to move.”
Authorities at the Nagpur prison, however, denied Vasantha’s and the professor’s allegations, claiming that they always offered all necessary medical aid to Saibaba, but he has “steadfastly refused treatment”.
Saibaba, an English professor who taught at Ramlal Anand College in Delhi University, was arrested in May 2014 after police in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, claimed that he had Maoist links.
Police had gone after Saibaba for allegedly being an ‘urban contact’ for Maoists, much before the current ‘Urban Naxal’ row, in which authorities arrested activist Gautam Navlakha and other Left-wing ideologues.
Saibaba was handed a life sentence by a Gadchiroli sessions court in March 2017, after being convicted under various sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He has been lodged in Nagpur Central Jail since.
Deteriorating health
In his letter to Vasantha, Saibaba has written that he had fallen unconscious several times in prison, the frequency of which has increased in the last few days.
“Since July 12th, I have fallen unconscious three times. Before that, a total of eight times in a year till June,” his letter reads. “I have lost appetite. Not feeling to eat anything because the vomiting sensation keeps coming back (sic).”
The professor has also complained of not being able to sleep because of which he has been forced to take sleeping pills.
“The pain in the left side of the stomach has increased. The pain in my damaged left hand has also increased extremely. As a result, I am not able to sleep,” the letter states. “For the last 20 days I have been taking sleeping pills, Restyl, without which I am not being able to sleep at all due to the severe pain.”
Saibaba’s deteriorating health condition had prompted human rights experts from the United Nations to urge India to release him, earlier this year.
“We are concerned about reports that Dr Saibaba is suffering from more than 15 different health problems, some of which have potentially fatal consequences,” the experts said in a joint statement released in Geneva in July this year. The experts called on India to release Saibaba as he was in “urgent need of adequate medical treatment”.
India is yet to respond to the appeal.
Nagpur prison authorities deny charges
Prison authorities at the Nagpur Central Jail denied the allegations and maintain that they have always offered all necessary medical aid to Saibaba.
“We have taken him to the hospital of the GMC Medical College, Nagpur, a number of times whenever required. But he has refused treatment each and every time, citing some reason or the other. All of this is on record,” said Yogesh Desai, DIG, prisons (eastern zone), Nagpur.
He added that the jail staff has even summoned specialised medical teams to the Nagpur jail whenever needed.
On one such occasion, Desai claimed, Saibaba said he would be willing to undergo treatment only if his family was present. “We immediately called his wife and requested her to come. He had a discussion with his wife and still refused medical treatment,” he added.
The official said allegations of Saibaba falling unconscious are also false. “He has not been unconscious even once,” Desai said.
Several activists, as well as his wife, have been petitioning the government to move the professor to Hyderabad citing his deteriorating medical condition. Desai said the request was not permissible as per central government guidelines as well as state rules because Saibaba has filed an appeal against his conviction in Maharashtra and it is still pending.
Communist Party of India (maoist) announces a change of his General Secretary Ganapathy
Communist Party of India (maoist) announces a change of his General Secretary Ganapathy who has volontary withdrawed from his position, the Central Committee has electef Comrade Basavaraju as the new General Secretary. The Internationalist Meeting of the International Committe Supporting People’s War in India will explain the ideological, political and organisation reasons – the 8th of December at 10:00 in CS Micene Milan
Successful Maoist bandh in Malkangiri – support mass struggle- support people’s war- support PCI (Maoist)! Italian internationalist meeting Milan 8 december ICSPWI – info csgpindia@gmail.com
Malkangiri: A 12-hour dawn-to-dusk bandh called by Maoists in Koraput and Malkangiri districts in response to the murders of three comrades in alleged encounters has affected normal life in the area Tuesday. Several posters were found put up at Hatibari near Nandapur in the district protesting the death of three cadres.
Road communication in the district was hit as Government buses remained off the roads due to the protest. Besides, shops and other business establishments remained closed due to the protest.
Meanwhile, security forces were on high alert and frisking of vehicles was carried out at several places in the district during the protest.
Free Ajith, free VaraVaRao, free Saibaba free all political prisoners – italian internationalist meeting in Italy 8 december – info csgpindia@gmail.com
new letter of SAIBABA
New Delhi/Mumbai: Former Delhi University professor, G.N. Saibaba, serving a life sentence for alleged Maoist links, has claimed that his deteriorating health and poor conditions at Nagpur Central Jail, where he is incarcerated, have reduced him to a “cot-ridden old man” and a “dump of shrunken flesh and dried bones”.
In a letter to his wife, the wheel-chair-bound Saibaba, who is 90 per cent disabled, has also alleged that he has been put on solitary confinement in a prison cell that does not address his disability needs.
“The very architecture of this prison renders me totally helpless. There is no accessibility for me in any aspect. I have been reduced to ‘a cot-ridden old man’,” he has written in his letter which has been accessed by ThePrint.
“Inside the cell, I cannot approach the toilet in my wheelchair. Two persons have to take me or hold me in my wheelchair to go for urine or defecation or for taking a bath,” he has added.
Saibaba’s wife, G. Vasantha, told ThePrint that jail authorities have allegedly refused to provide proper treatment for her husband who suffers from a number of ailments.
“My husband has a problem in his pancreas and recently developed a tumour on the lower portion of his body. The jail authorities refuse to give him proper treatment and they don’t know how to deal with a disabled person,” Vasantha said. “They have also kept him in an anda cell (solitary confinement), where there is hardly any space for him to move.”
Authorities at the Nagpur prison, however, denied Vasantha’s and the professor’s allegations, claiming that they always offered all necessary medical aid to Saibaba, but he has “steadfastly refused treatment”.
Saibaba, an English professor who taught at Ramlal Anand College in Delhi University, was arrested in May 2014 after police in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, claimed that he had Maoist links.
Police had gone after Saibaba for allegedly being an ‘urban contact’ for Maoists, much before the current ‘Urban Naxal’ row, in which authorities arrested activist Gautam Navlakha and other Left-wing ideologues.
Saibaba was handed a life sentence by a Gadchiroli sessions court in March 2017, after being convicted under various sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He has been lodged in Nagpur Central Jail since.
Deteriorating health
In his letter to Vasantha, Saibaba has written that he had fallen unconscious several times in prison, the frequency of which has increased in the last few days.
“Since July 12th, I have fallen unconscious three times. Before that, a total of eight times in a year till June,” his letter reads. “I have lost appetite. Not feeling to eat anything because the vomiting sensation keeps coming back (sic).”
The professor has also complained of not being able to sleep because of which he has been forced to take sleeping pills.
“The pain in the left side of the stomach has increased. The pain in my damaged left hand has also increased extremely. As a result, I am not able to sleep,” the letter states. “For the last 20 days I have been taking sleeping pills, Restyl, without which I am not being able to sleep at all due to the severe pain.”
Saibaba’s deteriorating health condition had prompted human rights experts from the United Nations to urge India to release him, earlier this year.
“We are concerned about reports that Dr Saibaba is suffering from more than 15 different health problems, some of which have potentially fatal consequences,” the experts said in a joint statement released in Geneva in July this year. The experts called on India to release Saibaba as he was in “urgent need of adequate medical treatment”.
India is yet to respond to the appeal.
Define The Term ‘Urban Naxal’, Historian Romila Thapar Asks India Government
TALKING ON THE HOUSE ARRESTS OF FIVE ACTIVISTS, SHE SAID THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FIGHTING AGAINST SOCIAL INJUSTICE.
From: Press Trust of India | Updated: November 09, 2018 19:39 IST
Define The Term ‘Urban Naxal’, Historian Romila Thapar Asks Centre
The five activists have been under house arrest since August 29
NEW DELHI: Eminent historian Romila Thapar, who petitioned the Supreme Court against the house arrest of five Left-leaning activists, has asked government to define the phrase ‘urban Naxal’, saying either they do not understand the meaning of the term or the activists like her do not.
Talking on the house arrests of five activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha, she said these are the people who are fighting against social injustice.
“We were all born Indians, lived as Indians all our lives. These activists are fighting for good causes and terming them urban Naxal is a political move,” she said.
“Do they even know what urban Naxal means, first ask the government to define the term urban Naxal and then tell us how we fall into this category. It is very easy to call us urban Naxal. And also tell us how we have become urban Naxal, either the government does not understand the meaning of urban Naxal or we don’t understand the meaning of the term,” Ms Thapar told PTI.
She was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference held by the petitioners after the Supreme Court judgement on Friday refused to interfere with the arrest of the five rights activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case and declined to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe their arrests.
The five activists have been under house arrest since August 29.
Politicians like Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have often referred to the five activists as “urban Naxals”.
Many social media users have enlisted themselves as “urban Naxals” in a show of solidarity with the arrested Leftwing activists as ‘MeTooUrbanNaxal’ hashtag trended on Twitter.
They countered that the term ‘urban Naxal’ was a mere creation of some sections to brand everyone as Naxalites (so that they can be arrested) who have an anti-establishment stance.
Ms Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala were the petitioners who filed a case in the Supreme Court after the five lawyers, journalists and civil rights activists were arrested across the country on August 28 and charged with abetting acts of terror under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
“Any democratic institution cannot take law into its hands. It has to go through a certain procedure. Arrests are the last step of a probe it is not the first step of an investigation,” she said.
“Arbitrary arrests on implausible charges means the police can walk into our homes and arrest us – either without a warrant or a warrant written in a language we don’t understand and then accuse us of activities about which we know nothing,” she said.
The highly charged, momentous hours before Varavara Rao’s arrest, by N Venugopal Rao
Posted by admin on November 19th, 2018
Starting from 1.40 in the afternoon of Friday, when the High Court in Hyderabad dismissed the petition of Varavara Rao, till 8.40 in the night of Saturday, when he was taken away by Pune police, a little more than thirty hours, his house in Gandhinagar in Hyderabad witnessed highly charged, inspiring and momentous scenes of anxiety, anger, confidence, hope, and protest on the part of people as well as cunning, bluffing, illegality and highhandedness on the part of police.
Earlier, Varavara Rao filed a petition before Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court, seeking quash of the Transit Remand Warrant issued by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad on August 28 facilitating his arrest that day. It was contended that the warrant was illegal and did not follow the proper legal procedures. The petition sought the relief of quashing the warrant and vacate the house arrest, executed since August 29 with the Supreme Court’s intervention and extended till November 15 by Hyderabad High Court on October 25.
Justice B Siva Sankara Rao, admitted the petition on November 6 and posted it for hearing on November 26, directing a team of doctors from Gandhi Hospital to conduct medical checkup of Varavara Rao and submit a report in the meanwhile. However, till November 14, no medical examination was done and Varavara Rao’s defence counsel brought it to the notice of the judge since the extension of the house arrest was going to end the next day. Then the judge asked the prosecution to expedite medical examination and posted the case to November 16. He suspended the Transit Remand Warrant till November 17 as well.
Then the state moved in a haste and got the medical examination done on November 15 and submitted the report to the judge on November 16. Though in his earlier oral and written orders the judge specifically said the matter on quash would be heard on November 26 only and the November 16 hearing was only for medical report, he suddenly changed his mind and without any arguments on the quash petition dismissed it. Since it was already executed, it is a dead order and there is no need to go into it again, he said. Without anybody asking for it, he also said Varavara Rao was fit for transit, based on the medical report!
That order was given a few minutes after the lunch break, without giving any scope for further arguments.
It led to a great confusion. The house arrest extension expired the previous day and the interim order of suspending the warrant would be applicable till the next day. Moreover, the judge who suspended an order two days ago now said it was dead two months ago, defying any logic how a dead order can be revived and suspended and within two days again pronounced dead!
Leaving that confusion to legal pundits to resolve, people of different walks of life felt an immediate possibility of Varavara Rao’s arrest and started pouring into his house. The policemen posted in front of his apartment and flat, who were not allowing anybody except family members inside, for the last 78 days, got confused with the legal meandering. The suspension of Transit Remand on November 14 would logically mean that house arrest was not legal and they have no right to not only stop people, but be present there at all. But because they did not get any orders from higher-ups, they continued. Added to that confusion, November 16 dismissal made it imperative for Pune police to take away Varavara Rao, in which case, house arrest and police post in front of the house in the intervening period would not have any legal sanction.
Maybe thanks to this confusion, from November 16 afternoon police at the gate did not try to stop hundreds of people coming to see Varavara Rao. People were guessing on the probable duration for Pune police to arrive either in flight or by road and expecting them to be in Hyderabad by late night. Thus people wanted to meet Varavara Rao before that. The word spread and many people from various districts as well as from the city began coming to his house to see him before he was taken away. Besides a hundred friends and relatives, more than a hundred activists gathered within two hours and the activists sat in protest in front of the house. The protest holding banners and placards with songs and speeches continued till 10 in the night.
By that time, a few friendly advocates said since the High Court order copy was not released either to prosecution or to defence, the police cannot arrest and they may be waiting for getting the order. Thus the picketing was dissolved with a call to observe protest marches all over the state next morning. But around two dozen activists continued their vigil and refused to leave the place, apprehending police arrival any moment. By that time the policemen in front of the house became strict again and refused to allow more people into the house and the patrolling vans increased their activity. Inside the house about a ten of family members continued their wait with baited breath and they had to spend a sleepless night expecting police any time.
As Pune police did not come that night, by Saturday morning the people’s stream further broadened and that entire day witnessed at least five hundred people visiting Varavara Rao. Besides his friends, relatives and supporters, activists from various streams like students, youth, dalits, poets, writers, workers and civil liberties as well as academics went on coming and wishing him farewell. People from different parts of the state also began coming to meet him. Each and every person of these hundreds would come into the flat, shake hands with him, give him a hug in a demonstration of a sense of camaraderie, confidence and hope.
As part of the state-wide protest call, in many districts people held demonstrations and in front of Varavara Rao’s house also a demonstration began in the morning. Various students, youth, writers, workers organizations participated and spoke at the demonstration. Several songs against state repression were sung. It was like a full-fledged public meeting, as it was on one of the main roads in the city.
Even by the evening the High Court order did not come out and some people started doubting whether Pune police can take Varavara Rao into custody without that order. They were guessing that Pune police would not be able to arrest him till Monday. Then people began to leave the demonstration and by 7.15 the entire protest pandal became empty.
Noting that there is no protest demonstration in front of the house, perhaps on the tip of the watching intelligence men, within 10 to 15 minutes Pune police, accompanied by Hyderabad police in huge numbers entered the building at 7.40. At that time, there were only about ten family members and the advocate who fought the case in High Court present in the house.
The advocate and the family members insisted on seeing the warrant or the High Court order before taking away Varavara Rao. The police officer from Pune said they don’t need any warrant to take a person into their custody. Accompanying Telangana police officer claimed that they arrested many people without any warrants. “If you do not cooperate for the arrest, we have to use force,” they threatened and gesticulated. “We will cooperate, if only it is legal,” insisted the family members to register their protest and to expose that the police action was illegal. Then the family relented and asked them to allow Varavara Rao to have his dinner after which they can take him away.
This argument went on for about ten, fifteen minutes and by that time heavy police forces were deployed to block the entire apartment with ropes and barricades since at least 200 to 250 activists and came back to protest and gathered in front of the apartment, besides about 50 media personnel.
As Varavara Rao was hurried to finish his dinner, he and his wife Hemalata were asked to countersign on intimation letters on the arrest. They wrote their protest remarks and signed on the letters. Their signatures had the time: 8.31.
Immediately Varavara Rao was taken to the cellar of the apartments where two police vehicles were waiting. All the people and media personnel waiting outside the apartment were given an impression that both the police vehicles would take the exit gate in normal fashion and all 200 to 300 people were waiting there. Suddenly, the vehicle in which he was made to sit took an about turn and climbed up the ramp from entry gate! People ran the hundred-metre distance from the exit gate to the entry gate and a couple of them almost fell under the vehicle. The vehicles were so fast that the ever busy, more crowded with the activists, road would have seen fatal accidents.
Varavara Rao was taken directly to Gandhi Hospital where a routine medical checkup was conducted and he was moved in vehicles to Pune, despite the police intimation to the family that he would be taken in flight. The 78-year old highly respected writer, suffering with sinusitis at the time and a chronic patient of pedal edema (swelling of feet with sitting for long hours), was subjected to over ten-hours travel on road in an uncomfortable vehicle.
Back in Hyderabad, the activists gathered in front of the house stayed there for two more hours consoling the family, giving bytes to media and thinking of future course of action, while a hundred activists marched to the nearest main thoroughfare and held a rasta-roko for some time and returned to the apartment in a procession. They raised the slogans “Long Live Varavara Rao! Sangarsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain (Go on fighting, we are with you) and demanded the government to withdraw the false case and release all the accused immediately.
(N Venugopal Rao, poet, literary critic, journalist, public speaker and translator, runs his own alternative magazine, Veekshanam, a monthly journal of political economy and society. He is Varavara Rao’s nephew. )
Joint Statement by 16 Student Organizations
“We Strongly Condemn the Arrest of Student Activists We Demand
We come to know from various media reports that 4 activists of mass movement have been arrested by the police from Goaltore area of West Midnapur district. Among them two activists are student activists named Tipu Sultan and Arka Deep Goswami who are our beloved comrades from United Students’ Democratic Front (USDF), Kolkata. We also came to know from a reliable source that though police have arrested them on 12th of this month, they kept them illegally into their custody for 2 days after which only they were produced in the court on 14th of this month. Not only that, police officials have beaten them mercilessly in their custody. From media reports only, we could know that one of the students named Tipu Sultan has developed clots in his eyes because of severe torture by the police.
Also a case have been registered vide Goaltore PS Case No. – 220/18 dated 13.11.18 under Indian Penal Code Sections 121 (waging war against the state), 121A (conspiring to commit offence against the state), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 124A (sedition), and 149 (if an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly, every other member shall be guilty of the offence).
Actually, from a report from USDF, the truth is that they went for a survey on the lifestyles of the people after which 7 people died out of starvation at Jangalmahal, West Bengal a week ago (according to govt. reports). Students and democratic activists were arrested on false-fabricated charges from Jangalmahal on allegations of engaging in Maoist activities. It is actually in tandem with the crackdown on democratic voices that we are witnessing nationally.
We, on behalf of Struggling Student organizations from various nations strongly condemn all of these illegal activities of the police authorities and demand strict action against the guilty. We all know that Supreme Court has clearly stated in its verdict that ‘guilt by association’ and ‘guilt by suspicion’ are not guilt at all. Hence, we demand the withdrawal of all the false charges leveled against the 4 activists and immediate and unconditional release of them.
Jointly Signed by:
Bhushan Longjam, Secretary Gen., Socialist Students’ Union of Manipur (SSUM)
K. Javed Mehedi, General Secretary, Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD)
Ajaib, DSO, Punjab University, Patiala
Swati, SFC, IIT-BHU,
Prasanna, Chaitanya Mahila Sangam (CMS)
Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), Delhi University
Ajmal Khan, Aaghaz magazine
Akshay, AIRSO
Rohan, Ambedkar Bhagat Singh Study Circle (ABSC)
Dinesh, Students’ Uprising Movement for Social Welfare (SUMS), Tamil Nadu
Sreekanth, Student Youth Coordination Against Police-Brutality, Kerala
Radical Students’ Forum, Kerala
Shelu Neupane, Office Secretary, All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union ( Revolutionary)
Saeed Bilash, president Chatra Ganamanch, Bangladesh
Atif Anik, President, National Committee Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement, Bangladesh
Kara Lenina Taggaoa, National Spokesperson, League of Filipino Students.
Important CPI (Maoist) documents
