In Defence of Prof G.N. Saibaba: Letter to Ram Lal Anand College Governing Body

To

The Chairperson, Governing Body, Ram Lal Anand College,

University of Delhi

June 14, 2017

Subject: Appeal against disciplinary action and termination of services of Professor GN Saibaba

Dear Sir,

We, the undersigned, current and past teachers of various universities in India and abroad, are writing to draw your attention to the alarming situation concerning one of our colleagues and fellow teacher, Dr G.N. Saibaba (Assistant Professor of English, Ram LalAnand College, University of Delhi). From news reports and through friends we have come to know that the college has issued him a show cause notice asking him to explain why disciplinary action (including termination of service) should not be taken against him consequent upon his conviction in a case registered in Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra.

We firmly believe that he has been wrongfully convicted under false charges, levelled by police as a vendetta towards Dr Saibaba’s consistent work to expose the atrocities that the under-privileged and marginalised sections of Indian population have been suffering. He has been a target of attack and his family has faced extremely hostile situations in the past because of their uncompromising work in upholding democratic and constitutional rights of the most oppressed people. We are convinced, further, that the higher judiciary in India will restore justice by acquitting him of all false charges. In any case, he has a right to exhaust all legal remedies for securing justice. He has already filed an appeal against his conviction in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court which will soon come for hearing.

It will be a travesty of justice, if his and his family’s suffering is deliberately compounded by further punishing him for a crime that he did not commit and from what he is seeking relief from the Court. He is already under suspension, and the family is surviving on the meagre subsistence allowance. We appeal to you and request, in all earnest, not to take any further punitive action that may jeopardise his family’s well being, as well as his capacity to seek legal relief.

Dr Saibaba is a dedicated teacher, loved by his students and colleagues, and an outstanding scholar. He has contributed immensely to the corporate life of the College and the University by working in various capacities of crucial responsibility. We request you to give adequate consideration to Dr Saibaba’s academic profile, and sincerely hope that your office will give our appeal a sympathetic consideration and not allow any further punitive action to take place against Dr G.N. Saibaba.

Sincerely yours,

1. A.K. Ramakrishnan, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

2. Achin Vanaik, Professor (retd.), University of Delhi

3. Amit Bhaduri, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University

4. Amit Bhattacharyya, Professor (retd.), Jadavpur University, Kolkata

5. Anirban Kar, Associate Professor, University of Delhi

6. Anirudh Deshpande, Associate Professor, Delhi University

7. Anup Surendranath, Assistant Professor, National Law University, Delhi

8. Arundhati Roy, Writer

9. Ashok Bhowmick, Painter

10. Bindu K.C., Associate Professor, Ambedkar University, Delhi

11. Biswajt Mohanty, Assistant Professor, Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi

12. Brinda Bose, Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

13. Debarshi Das, Associate Professor, IIT Guwahati

14. Debjani Sengupta, Associate Professor, IP College

15. Anand Teltumbde, Professor, Goa Institute of Management

16. Dr Baidik Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi

17. Dr Raj Kumar, Professor, Department of English, Delhi University

18. Dr Karen Gabriel, Associate Professor, St. Stephen’s College

19. Dwaipayan Sen, Assistant Professor, Amherst College

20. G. Haragopal, Visiting Faculty NSLUI and TISS, Hyderabad

21. G. Arunima, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

22. Hany Babu, Associate Professor, University of Delhi

23. J Devika, Associate Professor, Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

24. Jagmohan Singh, Professor, Director of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Creativity Centre - S. B.B.S.E. Centre, Ludhiana

25. Kesavan Veluthat, Professor (retd.), University of Delhi

26. Kunal Chattopadhyay, Professor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

27. M. Madhava Prasad, Professor, EFLU, Hyderabad

28. Madhu Prasad, Associate Professor, University of Delhi

29. N. Raghuram, Professor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

30. Naveen Gaur, Associate Professor, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi

31. Nandini Chandra, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi

32. Nandini Sundar, Professor, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi

33. Nandita Narain, President, DUTA, Associate Professor, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

34. Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Professor (retd.), University of Delhi

35. Nivedita Menon, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

36. P.K. Vijayan, Assistant Professor, Hindu College, University of Delhi

37. Partha Chatterjee, Professor, Columbia University

38. Partho Sarothi Ray, Assistant Professor, IISER, Kolkata

39. Prathama Banerjee, Associate Professor, CSDS, Delhi

40. Projit Bihari Mukharji, Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania.

41. R. Abilash, Writer (Tamil)

42. R.A. Rambabu, Associate Professor, TISS, Mumbai

43. Rakesh Ranjan, Assistant Professor, SRCC, University of Delhi

44. Rimli Bhattacharya, Associate Professor, University of Delhi

45. Rochelle Pinto, Research Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library

46. Saikat Ghosh, Assistant Professor, SGTB Khalsa College

47. Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker, New Delhi

48. Seema Azad, Journalist

49. Shilpaa Anand, Assistant Professor, MANUU

50. Simona Sawhney, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi

51. Soumya Datta, Senior Assistant Professor, South Asian University

52. Srikrishna Deva Rao, Professor, NLU, Odissa

53. Subarno Chattarji, Associate Professor, University of Delhi

54. Sudhir Dhawale, Journalist

55. Sumit Chakravartty, Editor, Mainstream Weekly

56. Susie Tharu, Writer and Professor, EFLU, Hyderabad

57. Taha Yasin, Assistant Professor, RLA College

58. Udaya Kumar, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

59. Vikas Gupta, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi.