India - against the rejection of bail of Dr. Saibaba and the framing of Arundhati Roy

against the rejection of bail of Dr. Saibaba and the framing of Arundhati Roy in contempt proceedings for her essay in Outlook. It will be addressed by Dr. G N Saibaba, Justice (Retd.) Rajinder Sachar, Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Arundhati Roy, Prashant Bhushan, Sanjay Kak, Vikas Gupta, Ashok Bhowmick, Manisha Sethi, Dr. Mrigank, Vijay Singh, Pankaj Bisht, Mangalesh Dabral and other intellectuals, Professors, artists, lawyers and representatives of democratic rights and civil liberties groups.

Dr. G.N Saibaba’s application for permanent bail has been rejected today by the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. What is further appalling is that the High Court has also dismissed Saibaba’s interim bail order (Criminal Application No.785/2015), that was issued by a division bench led by the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Justice Mohit Shah along with Justice Shukre on 30/06/2015 which granted him interim relief which in turn was extended by the same division bench till 31st December 2015, to avail treatments for his serious medical conditions. Interrupting his ongoing treatment, the new judgment by a single judge of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered Dr. Saibaba to surrender himself to the Nagpur prison within 48 hours! The order further states upon failure to do so, he shall be arrested by the police. The highly inhospitable conditions of the notorious anda cell of the Nagpur Central Jail had further deteriorated his multiple health problems. It was only after many democratic voices raised their voice of protest that he was finally granted interim bail on the ground on medical grounds in June 2015. After his release on temporary bail, Dr. Saibaba has been undergoing treatment in various hospitals in Delhi for multiple health problems. In this situation the cancellation of his bail and forcing him back to the same hostile prison is going to seriously affect his health conditions, probably beyond any recuperation. The rejection of bail in this situation therefore is unacceptable and inhuman.
The same High Court judgment that cancelled Saibaba’s bail petition also ordered proceedings for criminal contempt to be initiated against Arundhati Roy for her article titled Professor, POW against GN Saibaba’s incarceration that was published in Outlook magazine on 18th May, 2015. The Order has issued notice to the author for action for contempt of Court, returnable on 25.01.2016.

Committee for the Defense and Release of Dr GN Saibaba