India - Saibaba Speaks To The Media: “Prison Is A System That Robs Human Beings Of Their Value”

 

Hyderabad District, August 23, 2024: Former professor of English at Delhi University’s Ram lal Anand college Dr G.N. Saibaba, a political prisoner who was acquitted of the charges against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, recounted the horrors of imprisonment during an interaction with the media, organized by the Telangana State Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) today.

“Prison is a microcosm of the external world, where all the societal evils are even more pronounced than outside,” Dr Saibaba said during his first-ever media interaction after his release from prison in March of this year.

“Caste-based discrimination is rampant in prison, and works are assigned based on the caste of inmates. In fact, assignment of jobs based on caste is mentioned in the jail manual too,” Dr Saibaba said.

The amended Prisons Act 1894 allows ‘mild bodily torture’ as a means to control and discipline prisoners. While there is no way one can protest against such a system except through a hunger strike, even that would yield no result unless amplified by voices outside the prison.

Under the pretext of mild torture, all prisoners are beaten up upon arrival without reason. The only exceptions are gangsters, politicians of repute and ‘Naxal cases’, Dr Saibaba said.

“When Anil Deshmukh visited me in prison as Home Minister in Congress and NCP coalition, I requested of him for better conditions for prisoners. But he sought to know what I wanted for myself. Later, he was jailed, and experienced the conditions first hand,” Dr Saibaba said.

Similar experiences were shared by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and businessman Naresh Goyal too, and yet there is no change in the conditions.

“After seeing all this, my opinion is that nobody should be sent to prison. Prison is a system that robs human beings of their value,” Dr Saibaba said.

Tracing through the period that led to his arrest, Dr Saibaba said he was warned and threatened by a posse of officials, including Maharashtra police, thrice before the arrest, with regard to his campaign as convenor of the ‘Forum Against War On People’ against Operation Green Hunt.

“Hany Babu had done some exceptional work in the field of Linguistics and had no part in any activism except for our combined fight for implementation of reservation in Delhi University. He is now in jail, and almost lost his eyesight during COVID-19 time,” Dr Saibaba said.

To a question about the loss of faith in judiciary, Dr Saibaba said that it is part of the collapse of all institutions, and even courts are aware of this.

While Bench-hunting is severely castigated by the judiciary, even unlettered inmates of the prison discussed which Bench would give a favorable order, Dr Saibaba said.

“They would tell me before which Bench my bail petition stood a better chance. General population is looking at a Judge as an individual and not as a system. All of them know that court orders depend on judges,” Dr Saibaba said, recounting how his bail petitions were either rejected or never came up for hearing, and how the hearing on student activist Gulfisha Fatima’s bail petition was listed 65 times, but never came up for hearing