Jailed prof's life in danger, no medial care: Wife

Former Delhi University academic G N Saibaba's life is in danger because of lack of medical care in prison, his wife Vasantha Kumari said today.
Saibaba, who taught English at Delhi University's Ramlal Anand College, was last year sentenced to life imprisonment for Maoist links and is at present lodged in the Nagpur Central Prison.
Speaking to reporters here at the Press Club of India, Kumari said even though he suffered from 19 ailments, he did not have access to proper medical care.
"He is even finding it difficult to pass stool and urine," she said.
She alleged that the prison authorities censored his letters and held back or denied him sweaters and other items that she sent him.

"Things like sweaters, magazines and blankets were given to him after a month. Some went undelivered. They are not even allowing him to see my child's assignments," she said.

Kumari, who has maintained that Saibaba's conviction was erroneous, demanded that he be granted bail on medical grounds.
The wheel chair-bound lecturer, who is 90 per cent disabled, should else be immediately shifted to a jail in Hyderabad, where Saibaba's mother and other relatives live, she said.
Kumari said she had met Union Home Minister Rajnath seeking his intervention in the case last year. The minister had assured her that Saibaba would get adequate medical treatment, she added.

Former Delhi University Teachers' Association president Nandita Narain, who also took part in the press meet, said chances of Saibaba surviving in the present condition were feeble.
"It looks like the authorities have planned to let him die a slow death. This is just murder. Why has he been denied his right to life," she asked.