GN Saibaba, a professor of English at the University of Delhi, was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017, under the allegation that he had links with banned Maoist groups. The draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act had been invoked in his case. After his initial release on grounds of medical treatment—he uses a wheelchair as a result of post-polio residual paralysis of his lower limbs—he wrote about the conditions he had faced in an anda cell in the Nagpur prison. His partner, Vasantha Kumari, passed on the following poems he had written in confinement.

On 11 April, the Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr. GN Saibaba put out a statement asking for his release in the face of a threat to his life because of the COVID-19 virus. His health has deteriorated during his incarceration, and he suffers from pancreatitis, high-blood pressure, immobility and sleeplessness.



This Day, Too, Will Pass

Dizziness, nausea, breathlessness.

In the morning’s glossy papers of the day,

the colourful maps of my country

blur my vision.

Rich businesses celebrate

for super profits

with discount offers

up to ninety percent.