G N Saibaba, a former Delhi University Assistant Professor, passed away on Saturday (October 12) at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, due post-operative complications after a surgery to remove gallbladder stones. He taught English Literature at DU's Ram Lal Anand College from 2003 till his services were terminated in 2014 after he was arrested by the Maharashtra police for suspected Maoist links. Case Timeline May 2014: On May 9, six months after the Maharashtra Police conducted raids at his house on the university campus in Delhi, Saibaba was arrested for suspected Maoist links. He was accused of arranging a meeting of the other accused — JNU student Hem Mishra and Uttarakhand-based journalist Prashant Rahi — with members of the banned CPI (Maoist) and its alleged frontal organisation, the Revolutionary Democratic Front. June 2015: He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court taking his deteriorating health into consideration December 2015: Saibaba was sent back to jail April 2016: The Supreme Court granted the professor bail and pulled up the Maharashtra government for its insistence on keeping him behind bars. March 2017: Saibaba along with Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Mahesh Tirki and Pandu Narote were convicted under UAPA and were handed a life sentence. Vijay Tirki was sentenced to 10 years. October 14, 2022: After his appeal to the Nagpur Bench of Bombay HC, the court acquitted him and the other accused saying "there was no valid sanction for him to be prosecuted under UAPA". October 15, 2022: The apex court suspended the Bombay HC's verdict, saying that the court had not gone into the merits of the case or “the seriousness and gravity of the offences for which the accused were convicted.” April 19, 2023: SC set aside the HC's verdict discharging the accused and sent the matter back to the court to the judgement afresh by a different bench. March 5, 2024: In less than a year the Nagpur Bench of Bombay HC again acquitted the former DU professor and the other accused March 7 2024: Saibaba was released from the jail.
