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Can move Bombay HC or trial court for bail, Supreme Court tells Hany Babu
Babu withdrew his bail plea before the Supreme Court in May 2024 and approached the Bombay high court which had granted bail to five co-accused in the same case.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked former Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu to approach the trial court or the Bombay high court for bail in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Babu had withdrawn his bail plea before the Supreme Court (SC) in May 2024 and approached the Bombay high court which had granted bail to five co-accused in the same case. But on May 2 this year, the high court said the top court’s order permitting him to withdraw his plea did not permit him to approach the high court directly and instructed him to seek clarification from the Supreme Court.
A bench of justices Pankaj Mithal and PB Varale said it could not hear his request for bail on an application seeking clarification and said it was open for Babu to move an application in the top court to restore his earlier plea which was withdrawn. Besides, the bench said he could go back to the trial court or the high court.
Advocate Payoshi Roy, who represented Babu, said that the present application contained a prayer to restore the earlier bail plea withdrawn by him on May 3, 2024.
The bench cited the Bombay HC order and said, “Prima facie it appears that the high court has not granted you liberty to file an appeal. The court went on to dismiss the application, telling Roy that she could avail of either of the three options - approach high court, trial court or revive proceedings in the Supreme Court.
Roy said she would file an application to restore the proceedings in the Supreme Court.
“You move an application. We will restore it. After all, we are bound to do justice. We don’t want to curtail your rights,” the bench observed.
Roy argued that Babu has been in jail for the last five years without the trial having commenced. On this ground of delay, eight other co-accused in the same case facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have been released on bail by the Bombay high court. “On merits, we are better placed,” she said.
On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reiterated its objection, stating that the only remedy available to Babu was to file a fresh bail plea before the NIA court, where the trial was pending.
Babu, a professor of English literature in Delhi University, was arrested and lodged at Taloja Jail on July 28, 2020, along with other accused in the case. 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.
The high court had previously dismissed Babu’s bail plea on September 19, 2022.
NIA has claimed that Babu had links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) but Babu insisted that the agency did not have evidence to back up its charge except to cite names found in his laptop.
In its order, the high court said the appellant (Babu) was not just a passive member but an active member and the material on record clearly shows his involvement in the larger conspiracy.”
