'Your Careers Are Ruined': Judge To TISS Students Over GN Saibaba Event

A Mumbai sessions court judge told nine students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) that their careers were “ruined” after they were booked in October 2025 for allegedly participating in an event to commemorate the death anniversary of former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba.

“You have a criminal record,” media reports quoted Additional Sessions Judge Manoj B. Oza as saying. Judge Oza told the students that they had “made a blunder so early,” before their careers had even begun.

The night of October 14, 2025 was very unusual for the students at Tiss. The Tiss campus in Mumbai’s eastern suburb Deonar was surrounded by police vans. Many students vacated the campus fearing wrongful criminal action against them. 

A group of students paid tribute to G.N. Saibaba, former Delhi university professor who was incarcerated for a long time under UAPA, was acquitted by the Bombay High Court and released in March 2024, Seven months later, on October 12, 2024 he died of post-operative complications in Hyderabad.

A group of less than 10 students of Tiss gathered at the campus space on Sunday October 12, 2025 to pay tribute to Saibaba on his first death anniversary. 

“We lit candles in front of Saibaba’s photo and recited a poem. There was no sloganeering, no speeches, no placards, and no large-scale event,” students who participated told Outlook on the midnight of October 13, 2025.

Present and former students of Tiss allege that the right-wing students and their supporters made an issue out of it, photos, videos were circulated on social media, Tiss administration filed a police complaint. Later Mumbai police detained a few students. Students who spoke to Outlook stated that they were not given any information about their friend’s whereabouts and police didn’t allow their friends to connect with lawyers who can represent them. 

“Police entered the campus; it was all intimidating. They rigorously questioned my friends who weren't even allowed to go to the washroom.” A student on campus told Outlook in October 2025, requesting anonymity. 

Later, with the Tiss administration’s complaint, the FIR was filed by the Trombay Police. The FIR invoked charges of causing prejudice to the nation, causing enmity between various groups and participating in unlawful assembly, among others.

While hearing their anticipatory bail applications on Monday, Bombay Sessions Court judge Manoj Oza asked the students how many of them were not residents of Maharashtra. “You came to Maharashtra to study for all this?” the judge asked. “Do your fathers know about the case? How many of your fathers are in government jobs? You will not get government jobs because of this case.

Judge Oza said that they would have to disclose their pending criminal charges even if they choose to take up private employment and then asked their lawyer what course the students were pursuing.

When the judge was told that the students were enrolled in a Master’s in Social Work programme, the judge said their degrees would not help them secure employment, The Times of India reported.

“You think you are scientists or engineers,” he was quoted as saying. “Even engineers do not have jobs.”

In an FIR against the students, the police had also alleged that students shouted slogans in support of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam who have been in jail for more than five years for an alleged conspiracy case of the 2020 Delhi communal violence. 

During the hearing of anticipatory bail plea, Judge Oza extended the protection of Tiss students from arrest till February 5, when arguments of the students’ pleas are likely to be presented.

Former students of Tiss expressed concerns over criminalisation of students expressing diverse voices and dissent. 

“When a tribute to G.N. Saibaba was held at TISS, where around nine or ten students merely displayed his photograph, lit a candle, and recited a poem. There were no slogans or speeches." Atul Ravindra Patil, former TISS president told Outlook.

Patil expressed his views in detail saying, "TISS students study criminology and criminal justice and are encouraged to think critically beyond the classroom. Seen through the lens of our justice system, this act must be understood in context. Saibaba was acquitted and released, but justice delayed is justice denied. Paying tribute to him should therefore not be criminalised,” says Patil.

While explaining the current environment at the premiere institution of social sciences, Patil added, “the freedom of engaging with the real-world issues is shrinking speedily at the Tiss campus. Students and professors remain vulnerable to the repression. Most right-leaning experts are invited to public programs and guest lectures instead of a diverse pool of experts.”