Hyderabad/New Delhi:

The body of former Delhi University (DU) professor and rights activist GN Saibaba who passed away in Hyderabad, will be donated to a hospital as he wished, said a statement issued by his family on Sunday.

Saibaba, 58, was released from the Nagpur Central Jail after 10 years of incarceration after the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court set aside the life sentence given to him by a trial court, in an alleged Maoist links case in which the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was invoked.

Saibaba’s body will be kept at his brother’s house in Jawahar Nagar, Hyderabad, for his relatives, friends and well-wishers to pay homage, on Monday. Afterwards, his body will be donated to state-run Gandhi Medical College. His eyes have already been donated to LV Prasad Eye Hospital, the family said in a statement.

The former professor who taught English at Ram Lal Anand College of Delhi University (DU) passed away on Saturday due to post-operative complications, seven months after he was acquitted.

Saibaba was suffering from gall bladder infection and was operated on two weeks ago in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), but developed complications subsequently.

His daughter Manjeera told PTI Videos that he had Covid twice, his health was in abysmal condition while he was in jail and he recovered every time. Hence, she said that family was hoping that he would come back this time too. Neither Saibaba nor family members expected his death, she said, adding that he expressed hope during the last conversation she had with him.

Ms Manjeera said, “His body had borne too much all these years.”

“I miss him. I still cannot believe he is not with us. I still feel that I will go and open the door and he will be there sitting on his wheelchair telling me to do this and that. I still feel that way. I still feel that he is with us,” she said.

Ms Manjeera said they were aware that his condition was severe since Saturday afternoon, but at around 8 pm, doctors told the family that his heart had stopped beating and they were trying to perform CPR on him. They pronounced him dead at 8.30 last night, she added.

Saibaba was terminated from service by the DU and his official accommodation was taken away after he was arrested in 2014.

Saibaba’s death will continue to weigh heavily on public conscience, said Prof Saikat Ghosh, one of the few DU teachers who raised his voice against his imprisonment and the way he was treated in the jail.

“The sad thing is that nobody will be held accountable for pushing him and his family to such a catastrophic end,” he said.

Saibaba was a popular colleague in the Literature fraternity of Delhi University. The popularity stemmed from his dedication as a teacher and his devotion to the issues of democratic rights and civil liberties, Mr Ghosh said.

It took Saibaba 10 years to prove that he was not guilty. He inspired many and his demise is a “big loss,” said DU Professor Abha Dev.

“One can only try to imagine his hardships with 90 per cent disability. The country does not know how to celebrate these stories to inspire others but they fear the truth that he was speaking,” said Ms Dev.

Another DU Professor, Monami, said Saibaba’s friends and well-wishers were disheartened by the news of his demise.

“He just came out a few months ago and left so soon. But he was mentally a strong person,” she said.

Saibaba was lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail since 2017 after his conviction by a trial court in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. Before that, he was in prison from 2014 to 2016 and was subsequently granted bail.

Following his acquittal, the wheelchair-bound Saibaba walked out of the Nagpur Central Jail after 10 years.

Saibaba had alleged in August this year that he was not taken to a hospital for nine months by authorities despite the left side of his body getting paralysed and was just given painkillers in the Nagpur Central Jail.

A native of Andhra Pradesh, Saibaba had earlier claimed that he was warned by the authorities that if he did not stop “talking”, he would be arrested in some false case. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)