Elgar case: HC grants bail to ex-DU professor Hany Babu on ground of prolonged incarceration

Mumbai, Dec 4 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, on the ground of prolonged incarceration of more than five years without trial.

A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and R R Bhonsale directed Babu, who is presently lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai, to furnish a personal bond of Rs one lakh with sureties of the same amount.

While the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay on the operation of the bail order so as to appeal before the Supreme Court, the HC refused the request, stating that Babu has been in jail for over five years.

The court also noted that the trial in the case is not likely to complete soon.

Hany Babu had sought bail primarily on the ground of prolonged incarceration without trial.

His counsel, Yug Mohit Chaudhary, had argued that the charges were yet to be framed and their discharge application was still pending before the trial court.

The NIA has accused Hany Babu of being a co-conspirator in propagating Maoist activities and ideology on the instructions of leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation.

He was arrested in July 2020 in the case and was lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.

One person was killed and several others were injured in the violence.

The police had arrested 16 people in connection with the case in 2018.

Among those arrested were prominent lawyers, activists and academics, who were accused of being members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and furthering the cause of the Maoists.

The NIA took over the investigation in January 2020.

Among the accused, Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old priest and tribal rights activist based in Jharkhand, passed away in custody in July 2021.

Ten accused, including Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha, Sudhir Dhawale, and Rona Wilson, were given bail and were released.

Last month, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Jyoti Jagtap.

Accused Mahesh Raut was also released on six-week medical bail by the Supreme Court, which was later extended.

Lawyer Surendra Gadling and cultural artists and activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor are yet to get regular bail. PTI AVI SP GK NP