A year ago when G.N. Saibaba, a professor of English in Delhi University, was arrested for alleged Maoists links by the Maharashtra police, he was 90 per cent handicapped due to post-Polio paralysis. But he only needed one tablet for a heart condition and a tablet for blood pressure.
After spending a year in jail and for over six months in secluded “Anda cell” of Nagpur central prison, the professor has developed several ailments crippling his entire body and leaving only his right hand in working condition.
According to a health status report of Prof. Saibaba, submitted by the Chief Medical Officer and the Superintendent of Nagpur central prison to a Gadchriroli court last month, the wheelchair-bound professor is now a “known case of systemic hypertension with ischemic heart disease with cervical radiculopathy left side with bilateral kidney stone [left kidney 0.6 cm and right kidney 0.7 cm in size] with gallbladder stone [0.5 cm in size] with kyphoscoliosis”.
“A year ago he was able to operate his wheelchair on his own. Now he cannot even move without help as his left-hand movement is 90 per cent restricted . He faints every single day due to heat in the Anda cell,” Prof. Saibaba’s lawyer Surendra Gadling told The Hindu .
Yogesh Desai, the superintendent of Nagpur Central prison cited “lack of a proper room for him in jail and his security concerns” as the reason for not shifting Saibaba out of Anda cell.
