Prof Saibaba’s Wife: Husband Framed Because He Speaks for Adivasis

Vasantha Kumari alleged that Saibaba was convicted on concocted charges for opposing India’s anti-adivasi policies

Vasantha Kumari is set to challenge her husband Prof GN Saibaba’s conviction by a Gadchiroli sessions court.

Professor GN Saibaba’s conviction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for ‘waging war’ against India among other charges, will be challenged in the Bombay High Court by Saibaba’s family, his wife Vasantha Kumari told The Quint.

On 7 March, the wheelchair-bound DU professor was sentenced to life imprisonment, along with four others, by a district court in Gadchiroli.

‘Saibaba did not violate the Constitution, being punished on concocted charges’

Speaking exclusively to The Quint, Saibaba’s wife Vasantha Kumari alleged that the BJP and the RSS were seeking to suppress voices that spoke up against the ‘corporate loot’ that is taking place in the name of development, even as the fundamental rights of adivasis are being violated with impunity. She added,

The concocted charges against my husband are part of this systematic silencing of dissent. My husband has been framed – not once has he violated the Constitution. How can mere thought and speech be criminalised? Even the Supreme Court has said that merely being linked to a banned organisation does not make one a criminal. 

Watch the full interview here.

In light of Naxalites calling for a Bharat bandh on 29 March to protest GN Saibaba’s conviction, The Quint is republishing this interview with his wife Vasantha Kumari.