FRIENDS AND colleagues remembered G N Saibaba, a former assistant professor at Delhi College, as a superb instructor, tireless human rights activist and a person who fought his battles with braveness and a permanent smile.
Saibaba, who taught English at Delhi College’s Ram Lal Anand Faculty, spent a decade in jail over allegations of Maoist hyperlinks. He was acquitted by the Nagpur Bench of Bombay Excessive Court docket on March 5 this yr.
Nandita Narain, a former DU professor and a household pal, recalled assembly Saibaba within the early 2000s. “He didn’t have a wheelchair then, and I keep in mind him crawling his method to my residence at St Stephen’s Faculty. He wasn’t employed on the time, however his dedication and fervour for educating had been clear,” she stated.
“Regardless of his incapacity, he would commute from South Campus to North Campus to show MA courses. All through his profession at DU, he was actively concerned in campaigning for coverage adjustments, training rights and human rights for the unvoiced,” Narain stated. She recalled the time when, after Saibaba was terminated from his place, she and his spouse Vasantha went to the Vice-Chancellor’s workplace to combat for his reinstatement and the DU Academics’ Affiliation issuing a robust assertion in his defence.
Sharing her grief, Nandini Sundar, a professor at Delhi College of Economics, stated: “The final time I met him was at an occasion for tutorial freedom. He informed me one thing heartbreaking — that police had raided his house and destroyed his total life’s analysis. It’s unimaginable… His dying is a big loss… to all those that can not increase their voices for themselves,” she stated.
Hem Mishra, a former JNU scholar who was Saibaba’s cellmate, referred to as his dying a “systematic homicide”. Reflecting on their time in jail collectively, Mishra recalled how Saibaba, who required fixed assist as a result of his extreme incapacity, by no means misplaced hope. “He was a courageous man — he by no means stopped believing that justice can be served,” Mishra stated. Life in jail was gruelling, Mishra recounted, with medical care delayed and lots of requests ignored. Regardless of his deteriorating well being, Saibaba by no means gave up the combat, he stated.
