The Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr. GN Saibaba, former DU professor who is serving life term in Nagpur Central jail and has tested positive for coronavirus recently, has called for his immediate release from the prison on humanitarian grounds.
It said he is currently suffering from the infection’s symptoms of cold, high fever, throat infection, body ache, joint pain, shortness of breath, severe headache, muscle spasms besides pre-existing ailments, many of which he developed in jail.
Dr. Saibaba, being 90% orthopaedically challenged and wheelchair bound, needs two helpers to assist him with his daily needs. As he has tested positive, the jail has kept him in quarantine and the helpers, who are negative, are not available to help him, thus the professor is left completely helpless, the committee’s convenor Professor G. Haragopal said in a press release.
The Committee called on the Home Minister of Maharashtra, as well as the jail authorities, to consider Dr Saibaba’s case in a genuinely humanitarian manner, and release him immediately. At the least, they are seeking that he be granted parole immediately to get adequate and proper treatment for his health. It also urged that he be admitted into a good COVID-19 care hospital immediately. They have further called on the National Human Rights Commission to take note of Dr Saibaba’s precarious situation.
