By TCN News,
New Delhi: Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association and other members of the teaching community have condemned the police raid and stand in solidarity with G. N. Saibaba.
On 12 September, 2013 in a joint operation led by the National Investigative Agency (NIA), Special Cell, Delhi Police, Aheri Police Station, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra and Maurice Nagar Police Station, Delhi the house of G. N. Saibaba, a noted civil rights activist and professor of English at Ramlal Anand College, University of Delhi, was raided.
Located on the main campus of the University of Delhi, the house was ransacked by the police on the false pretext of attempting to recover “stolen property” under Sections 93, 94 of the Cr PC. Saibaba and his partner and daughter were subjected to violent threats and criminal intimidation by the raiding team after he enquired about the search warrant – which was reluctantly produced later – and expressed his right to have the search conducted in the presence of his lawyer.
His right to contact the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) was completely disregarded too.
In a statement, JTSA noted, “The raiding team, in gross violation of individual liberties and rights, confined the three member family for hours and locked the house from inside. The raiding army, after three and a half hours of calculated devastation, finally took away Saibaba’s computer, hard discs, pen-drives, mobile phones, SIM cards, books, pamphlets, and so forth.”
They further added, “The violence inflicted upon Saibaba and his family shows yet again the high-handedness of the state and its police force and its power to treat human rights activists and other such citizens in such brazen manner.”
For Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA):
Manisha Sethi, Ahmed Sohaib, Sanghamitra Misra, Tanweer Fazal, Nabanipa Bhattacharjee, Adil Mehdi, Ghazi Shahnawaz , M. S. Bhat, Farah Farooqi, Ambarien al Qadar and others
In solidarity:
Abhijit Kundu, University of Delhi
Mona Das, University of Delhi