The former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju has posted online his correspondence with the wife of the suspended Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba, who is accused of having links with Naxalites.
The e-mails, posted by Justice Katju on his personal blog and Facebook, has Vasantha Kumari describe the hostile conditions suffered by her wheelchair-bound husband in the infamous ‘anda’ isolation cell of the Nagpur prison, where the sole surviving 26/11 attacks terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was lodged before his execution.
Saibaba, who was on bail till December 31, is known to have surrendered to jail authorities on Friday night after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court rejected his regular bail application and directed him to surrender within 48 hours.
In an e-mail posted by Justice Katju on his blog, ‘Satyam Bruyat’, on December 25, Ms. Vasantha Kumari said her husband had left for jail and that the family was shocked by the court order. She wrote that Saibaba suffered from multiple ailments after his 14-month-long stay in the prison.
According to her, Saibaba is 90 per cent disabled, and due to this, he was finding his stay in the ‘anda’ cell “extremely difficult.” The cell, she said, is the “most hostile place for anyone to be.” “Saibaba has to do everything from going to toilet or washing his clothes on his own. Moreover, the ‘anda’ cell is an open space which becomes unbearably cold in winter,” the mail read.
She said Saibaba was “witch-hunted and framed because of his political beliefs.”
According to her, the trial was proceeding very slowly and five other accused had already got regular bail.
“Our experiences with the Nagpur prison authorities so far have been pathetic,” the mail read.
