Dr. Saibaba’s Death: The State and Judiciary should be held accountable | Meena Kandasamy interview

A mere seven months after his acquittal in a case in which he was alleged to have links with Maoists, former Delhi University professor and activist Dr Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba's passed away on Saturday, October 12. Saibaba, who had become a symbol of state repression, breathed his last at Hyderabad’s Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 58. During his ten-year incarceration, Saibaba had complained of the harrowing ill-treatment and torture meted out by jail authorities. Though he had permanent polio-paralysis, jail authorities had even refused to hand over his medication, Saibaba had told the media after his acquittal. TNM’s Shabbir Ahmed speaks to Meena Kandasamy, poet and novelist on Dr Saibaba’s death and how the system was numb to him.