The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr. Hany Babu, who was arrested in 2020 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case and charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), his partner and fellow academic Jenny Rowena told Maktoob.
A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale granted him bail.
A detailed order in the matter is awaited.
On 28 July, 2020, the National Investigation Agency arrested Babu, an anti-caste activist and a staunch proponent of social justice.
Babu was charged alongside several other prominent Dalit and Adivasi rights activists, whom the authorities accused of inciting caste-based violence through speeches on December 31, 2017, that resulted in violent clashes the next day in Bhima Koregaon and neighboring villages in Maharashtra state. Authorities also accused them of having ties to banned Maoist groups. Babu was charged under various sections of the Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Babu is currently at Taloja Central Jail, Navi Mumbai.
Earlier, in 2021, his family and lawyers had accused authorities of denying him medical treatment despite his complaints of an acute eye infection, pain and gradual loss of vision.
“It is really horrific that a university professor is languishing in jail for so many years without a trail, without having done any specific crime even according to the charge sheet and based only on the documents found in his computer, which was taken away in a raid by the police before his arrest without following any procedures,” Jenny Rowena, wife of Hany Babu, earlier said to Maktoob.
Rowena is also a professor at Delhi University.
“This shows that such a thing can happen to anyone who works for the larger social good and will not tow the government line. This needs to be viewed seriously and condemned,” she added.
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