[For many years, the administration of Delhi University (acting upon the repressive urgings of the Indian state against prominent activists) have pursued harassment and eviction-threats and -orders against the disabled Professor GN Saibaba and his family, who have struggled to maintain wheel-chair accessible housing on campus.. Last year, these threats came to a head with actual attempts to evict the professor and his family–which was only prevented by mass mobilizations of students and faculty, defending the housing rights of the family (see background on all this at http://sanhati.com/articles/6010/). Now, as outrage over the abduction, arrest, and refusal to provide medical care and appropriate care for this wheelchair-bound disabled imprisoned professor, the state has refused his release on bail, and in the same period have pressed forward on the eviction of his family. But now, the university has backed off on the eviction, not because they have had a change of heart, but because the state is calculating the political effect that such a malevolent eviction of the family may have, risking the state’s pursuit of their fabricated case against Dr. Saibaba. What next repressive steps the state will take, cannot be foretold, but anything must be expected. Free Dr.Saibaba! Stop Hounding and Suppressing Activists! — Frontlines ed.]
Suspended DU professor GN Saibaba’s family will not be evicted
Press Trust of India, Jul 05, 2014
New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) on Saturday assured a court here that family members of its suspended professor G N Saibaba, arrested for his alleged Maoist links, will not be evicted from their residence provided by DU.
“He (DU’s counsel) is assuring orally that he will inform the authorities about the court order (passed by a vacation judge on June 9 and thereby staying proceedings of eviction by the university)…,” District Judge A K Chawla said.
The assurance by DU came while the court was hearing a petition filed by Saibaba’s wife Vasantha, challenging the June 2 order of estate officer in which the professor was asked to vacate the Gwyer Hall premises provided to him by DU.
Saibaba, who was an English professor at Ram Lal Anand College, was arrested on May 9 by Maharashtra Police on the charges of being a member of a banned terrorist organisation (CPI-Maoist), providing logistics and helping in recruitment for the group.
Vasantha’s counsel C S Parasher informed the court that a vacation judge has stayed the eviction order of the estate officer on June 9 but even after that the university recently sent a notice that the professor’s residence will be vacated with the help of security agencies.
“Its the contempt of court,” Parasher said. Initially, the university’s counsel told the court that he has not received the stay order passed by the vacation judge, to which the district judge asked Parasher to provide him a copy of that order.
After getting the copy of the stay order, the DU’s counsel assured the court that it will be forwarded to the university authorities and duly be complied with.
Vasantha, in her petition, has said the estate officer’s order was “illegal, arbitrary, malafide and in violation of the provisions of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act”.
Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle 