Philippines: NDFP condemns Indian police raid of Prof. GN Saibaba's residence

PRESS STATEMENT
By LUIS G. JALANDONI
NDFP Chief International Representative
17 September 2013

NDFP condemns Indian police raid of Prof. GN Saibaba's residence

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) vigorously condemns the flagrant violation of the rights of Prof. GN Saibaba and his family by the Indian police raid on Saibaba's residence in Delhi on 12 September 2013.

Using the evidently lame excuse to “recover stolen property”, the 50-man combined police contingent subjected Prof. Saibaba, his life partner AS Vasantha, and their teen-aged daughter Majeera to several hours of cold and calculated intimidation.

Prof. Saibaba's demands to talk to his lawyer and the president of the Delhi University Teachers' Association were ridiculed by the police.

The police locked them inside a room and prevented entry, while they ransacked the residence and confiscated Prof. Saibaba's hard discs, laptop, computer, pen-drives, three mobile instruments, two SIM cards, booklets and magazines, and other materials.

Only when University teachers started gathering before the house and the media became curious did the raiding team leave after three and a half hours. They took with them the so-called “stolen property”. They also listed all the previous addresses of the houses in which Prof. Saibaba had stayed before shifting to the campus in Delhi University. These addresses were tagged as places from where “stolen property” could be “recovered”.

GN Saibaba is a professor of English at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and the Joint Secretary of the Revolutionary Democratic Front. He is a well-known academic who is politically active. He is among the strong critics of the fascist policies of the Indian state against the most oppressed and exploited in India.

The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) and other organizations and individuals have vigorously condemned the police raid on the family of Prof. GN Saibaba. The NDFP likewise condemns the police raid and demands that all confiscated items taken from Prof. GN Saibaba be immediately returned, and that all harassment, intimidation, and other repressive actions by the Indian state against Prof. Saibaba and other activists be stopped.

The NDFP reiterates the firm solidarity of the Filipino people with the Indian people's valiant struggle for national and social liberation.

(Sgd) LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chief International Representative
National Democratic Front of the Philippines