Bhima Koregaon Case: After 5 Yrs In Jail, Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Former DU Professor Hany Babu
The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu, who has been booked for his alleged role in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case.
A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale granted him bail. A detailed order in the matter is awaited.
For context, Babu was arrested in July 2020 by the NIA under the UAPA over alleged links to Maoists in the Bhima Koregaon case. His initial appeal against the special court's order was dismissed by the High Court and he was denied bail.
In May 2024, he withdrew the special leave petition filed in the Supreme Court, saying that he wanted to approach the High Court for bail, citing a change in circumstances.
These change of circumstances was the fact that eight of the accused in the case were granted bail by the Supreme Court and also the High Court.
Babu highlighted the fact that he has spent over 5 years and 2 months in prison without any trial and that the trial in the special court too has been delaying.
During the course of the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh argued that Babu has not spent substantial period in prison like Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawade and thus he cannot be granted bail merely on the basis of long incarceration.
The present application was limited only on the point of long incarceration and not on merits.
Prof Babu has been accused of having 'deep involvement' with the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) and the CPI (Maoist). He is also accused of following a leftist book "Secrecy Handbook" which allegedly recovered from Babu, explicitly states that "if one comrade is arrested, other comrades must do everything to help…by providing legal representation, publicity and organising protest."
This is specifically with regard to Babu's alleged role in helping colleague Prof GN Saibaba, who too was named in the case.
The Bombay High Court has so far granted bail to Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, Sudha Bharadwaj, while the Supreme Court has granted bail to P Varavara Rao on medical grounds, Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on merits.
In July this year, the Supreme Court granted liberty to Professor Babu to approach either the trial court or the High Court seeking bail.