Jailed former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba’s cancer-stricken mother passed away on Saturday, her last wish to see her son unfulfilled.
Several pleas to the Nagpur jail authorities to allow a video call between son and mother went unanswered, said Akash Sarode, the lawyer for Saibaba.
Saibaba, who uses a wheelchair as he is 90 per cent disabled and suffers from several ailments, has been serving a life term at Nagpur Central Jail after being convicted of Maoist links in 2017.
He had applied for bail and 45 days’ parole to receive treatment and to meet his 74-year-old mother in Hyderabad. On Tuesday, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court rejected the application for bail and parole.
Saibaba’s mother Gokarakonda Suryavathi died at 1.40pm on Saturday, a statement issued by the professor’s wife said.
Sarode told PTI that he had emailed the jail authorities on Friday saying Suryavathi’s condition was serious and that she wished to see her son.
He said he had requested the jail authorities to arrange a video call but received no reply. Nor did follow-up phone calls yield any result.
After Suryavathi’s death, Sarode had again rung up the jail authorities to arrange for a phone call with the family but received no reply this time either, the lawyer alleged.
Saibaba’s wife Vasantha said Suryavathi had been undergoing cancer treatment at NIMS, Hyderabad, and her health was worsening progressively.
She was “desperately waiting to be reunited with her eldest son, Dr G.N. Saibaba, currently languishing in prison under unfair charges”, Vasantha said in a statement.
She said Saibaba had not met his mother in four years. “I feel extremely saddened by the loss of this kind and caring woman and even deeply disappointed in myself that I could not fulfil her final wish of letting her meet her son,” Vasantha said.
In March 2017, a sessions court in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district had convicted Saibaba and four others, including a journalist and a JNU student, of Maoist links and engaging in activities amounting to “waging war against the country”.
The court held Saibaba and the others guilty under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
