Elgar Parishad case: Bombay HC grants bail to former DU professor Hany Babu

Babu, 58, an associate professor of language and linguistics at DU was arrested on July 28, 2020, and has since been lodged in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai

The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, arrested in connection with the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case after five years of incarceration.

NIA accused Babu of being a co-conspirator in the Elgar Parishad case. (File photo)

While the investing agency requested the court to grant a stay on the order to approach the Supreme Court, the division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Ranjitsinha R Bhonsale refused the request, noting that Babu has been in custody for over five years.

Babu, 58, an associate professor of language and linguistics at DU was arrested on July 28, 2020, and has since been lodged in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai. NIA accused Babu of being a co-conspirator in the Elgar Parishad case, where inflammatory speeches were allegedly delivered on December 31, 2017, which allegedly triggered violence the following day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial, killing one and injuring several.

He had earlier been denied bail by a special NIA court in 2022, a decision later upheld by the high court. His Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court was withdrawn in May this year, allowing him to move the high court afresh on grounds of “changed circumstances.”

Senior advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhary, representing Babu, argued that his client has spent over five years in custody without trial, with charges yet to be framed and his discharge application pending for two years. He stressed that there is no evidence linking Babu to acts of violence, citing recent bail granted to co-accused Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale due to prolonged delays in the trial.

“With 363 witnesses to be examined, the trial is unlikely to begin soon. He is a decorated professor with no criminal antecedents and poses no flight risk,” Chaudhary submitted.