HC again rejects Saibaba’s bail plea

Nagpur: For a second time, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected bail application of Naxal ideologue GN Saibaba. Earlier, it was rejected on March 25 last year. The bench, however, directed jail officials to expeditiously consider his new application for parole filed on June 16 on merits.
The wheelchair bound Delhi University professor applied for bail apprehending he may get infected with the coronavirus that hundreds of inmates and jail officials contracted inside the jail. Through counsel Nihalsingh Rathod, he also cited his deteriorating health and his mother’s cancer due to which she needs him in Hyderabad.
The petition was strongly opposed by Gadchiroli police through special public prosecutor Prashant Sathianathan contending that since the petitioner was lodged in the Anda Cell, there’s hardly any chance of getting infected from deadly virus. Moreover, his application for parole to meet his mother on the same grounds was rejected recently.
Quoting the jail’s chief medical officer (CMO), a division bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Amit Borkar stated that appropriate medical aid was being provided to Saibaba.
“From CMO’s reply, it is clear that all precautions are being taken to stop Covid-19 spread inside prison. The petitioner has been kept in a separate high security cell where inmates aren’t permitted to interact with others. It is also found he was tested for Covid-19 and report was negative. Moreover, only staff testing negative are kept on duty.”
Adding that there was no reason to disbelieve CMO’s report, the judges said though Saibaba suffered from various ailments, they did not find any ground to release him on bail due to pandemic.
“Regarding his worsening medical condition, we find that except for narrating his ailments, no further details are given. While arriving at this conclusion, we have kept in mind the nature of accusations against him, his conviction by Gadchiroli sessions court and rejection of his application for suspension of sentence by HC earlier,” they said.