After 2,000 Days Behind Bars, Dr Hany Babu Walks Out: Here’s Who He Is
Former Delhi University professor Dr Hany Babu has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court after spending more than five years in jail without a completed trial on Thursday.
The court said his long incarceration was itself a strong reason to grant bail, especially since several other accused in the same case have already been released. He was freed after submitting a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and two sureties.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) requested a stay on the bail order so it could approach the Supreme Court, but the High Court refused, noting that Babu had already spent over five years in custody.
Who Is Hany Babu?
Hany Babu is a former English professor from Delhi University and a well-known academic who has worked on human rights, civil liberties, and issues faced by marginalised communities, including Dalits and Adivasis.
He has been involved in campaigns supporting equal rights and social justice, and many see him as a scholar deeply engaged in public issues beyond the classroom.
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Hany Babu was arrested on July 28, 2020, in connection with the Elgaar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case. Authorities accused him, along with several other activists, of cases including being linked to a banned Maoist organisation, helping spread the group’s ideology and being part of a larger conspiracy that they claim contributed to violence in Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018.
He was charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code as well as the strict Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). These charges included allegations such as promoting enmity, conspiracy, sedition, and even “waging war against the nation.”
Hany Babu and his lawyers have consistently denied all allegations.
He was held at Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai. During the COVID-19 wave in 2021, he fell ill and suffered an eye infection that required treatment in a private hospital. His family repeatedly expressed concerns about his health and the lack of proper medical care.
When Hany Babu was arrested, his daughter was just 17, and his elderly mother, then in her late 70s, could not understand why her son was taken away.
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She would keep telling his wife, Jenny Rowena, also a Delhi University professor, “Go and tell the judge that Babu is a good person. Tell them he has committed no crime. Ask them to let him out, his mother is waiting, reported Scroll.in.
Despite the seriousness of the charges, the trial did not begin even after years of imprisonment. His discharge application, filed two years earlier, had still not been decided.
The High Court focused on one central issue: prolonged incarceration without trial. More than five years had passed, but the case had barely moved. Eight other accused had already been granted bail in recent years by either the High Court or the Supreme Court.
Seeing the delay and the repeated extensions in the trial, the court said that Babu could not be kept in jail endlessly.
Although Hany Babu is getting released, the case continues. Some co-accused remain in jail, some are out on bail, and the trial is still pending. The NIA is expected to approach the Supreme Court soon, but unless the top court intervenes.
