The Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad ‘Maoist’ conspiracy case is a grand experiment with truth where the State is daring the people to stand up for justice.
‘TRUTH or dare’ is a mostly verbal party game requiring two or more players. Players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a ‘dare’. The premise is simple: Players take turns asking one another ‘truth or dare?’ If they choose truth, they have to answer a question of the asker’s choosing. If they choose dare, the asker dares them to do something rather than make a confession.
Suppose the State were to subject its citizens to a macabre version of this game by cooking up a conspiracy case and locking up people behind bars. Then tell them that in order to win their freedom, they have to choose the ‘truth’ of the conspiracy or the ‘dare’ to dissent.
This is the absurd logic that plays out when you try to make sense of the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case. Read more
Three years ago on this day, around 4.30 in the evening, Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case.
Today, so many marginalised students miss a teacher who always stood by them, and so many more who could have gained from the way he interrogated the elite brahminical pedagogy of the English department are denied of his presence.
And my daughter and me, miss a father and husband who was so deeply committed to us. And was always growing together with us.
Yet in one sense, Babu’s incarceration is just one among the many cruel injustices happening around. A sign of the times when the Savarna Hindu State is destroying whole communities and regions and has invaded even the insulated university space, and is crushing any kind of oppositional voice that stands in its way. But in another sense, this is our very own personal pain. Which cannot be conveyed in words. But we are not defeated, and Babu is doing all that he was doing outside, inside in prison too – reading, writing, teaching and helping inmates to fight their cases.
I do not know what exactly we need to do to gain Babu’s release and the release of so many other political prisoners who have all been punished for their public stances of resistance. No campaign and no pressure seem to touch this government and the violent and blood thirsty groups that support it. Sometimes it’s easy to fall into despair. But that’s not how political prisoners live. They live with the power of being on the side of compassion and justice. With the solidarity and prayers of those who bravely stand with them in this. And the undying intellectual curiosity that I see in each of the Bhima Koregaon people, and Babu, really makes it clear that prisons are never enough to crush some people. And that they will come out of this stronger and better than before. And till then, some of us will continue to fight for their release.
In whatever way you can, please support us in this.
Hany Babu completes three years in prison, “we are not defeated,” says wife Jenny Rowena
28/07/2023
Maktoobmedia.com / by Maktoob Staff
Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr. Hany Babu, who is one of the UAPA prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, completed three years of incarceration on Friday, 28 July, 2023.
On 28 July, 2020, the National Investigation Agency arrested Babu, an anti-caste activist and a staunch proponent of social justice. Read more
NIA gets more time to reply to plea for furnishing copies of evidence to the accused
A few accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case have previously argued that their applications for cloned copies under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure have been pending for more than five years.
On Tuesday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria allowed the agency time to file an additional reply to the applications filed by accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on the applications filed under Section 207 of the CrPC on July 28. Read more
In a Letter From Jail, Stan Swamy’s Co-Accused Ask President Murmu to Stand Up for What Is Right
05/07/2023
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Today is Father Stan Swamy’s second death anniversary.
Two years ago on this day, 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy breathed his last while in custody. His death exposed the state’s negligence and inability to protect prisoners. Swamy, a Parkinson’s patient, spent close to a year in jail, deprived of the most basic facilities – one of which was a sipper to drink water from.
On his second death anniversary, 11 of his co-accused (Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Hany Babu, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Jyoti Jagtap) – all human rights activists and academics – write a letter to President of India Draupadi Murmu, who belongs to the tribal community that Swamy worked very closely with. Murmu, who recently spoke passionately about the conditions of Indian prisoners, was the governor of Jharkhand when Swamy’s organisation, Bagaicha, was raided and eventually he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency.
Along with the letter, the still-arrested human rights defenders also announced their one-day symbolic hunger strike in Mumbai’s Taloja and Byculla jails, where they are presently lodged.
The full text of their letter to the president is below. Read more
Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive
05/07/2023
Vernon Gonsalves
Scroll.in / by Vernon Gonsalves
A fellow prisoner’s recollections of the Jesuit priest, who died on July 5, 2021.
“…I am ready to pay the price, whatever be it. But we will sing in chorus. A caged bird can still sing.”
– Father Stan Swamy
When Stan Swamy, in his last message before landing in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Central Prison in October 2020, declared that a “caged bird can still sing”, he was not talking about the tunes prisoners sing in jail. He had then not been imprisoned before that and was probably not acquainted with prison-singing in its various forms. Read more
On Father Stan Swamy’s second death anniversary, two letters, a painting and the triumph of memory against forgetting
05/07/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
Father Stan Swamy’s death was an international shock the ripples of which can still be felt, and a blot on the record of a State that treats criminal justice as its plaything. His legacy is treasured by his co-accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case inside the prison, and everyone who stands for justice and democracy outside the prison.
… The 11 incarcerated accused persons in the Elgar Parishad case are set to go on a day-long hunger strike today. They pen an imaginary letter from Swamy to the President of India Droupadi Murmu, terming it “Prayers that never came to be”. Read more
“Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison
07/07/2023
InSAF India / by Shoma Sen
This handwritten note by Shoma Sen marks five years in prison for the activist and academic.
As we enter the sixth year of our incarceration the predominant feeling over the last five years is that of waiting. From waiting for default bail in the seventh month of our imprisonment, most of us are still waiting. In jail, we sit there waiting for court dates, waiting for mulakaat, waiting for the newspaper, waiting for bail and for the jail God called Memo. In jail, our sense of time itself gets warped. When a lawyer tells a prisoner that she will get bail in one or two days, it may actually mean one or two years. 24 hours of clock time could mean 24 months in judicial time. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’? / HRDs and families await justice, five years down
Faulty investigation and severe loopholes in investigation, surrounds the controversial BK-16 case. International outcry has not helped move the trial five years down even while the targeted languish, families await the return of their loved ones
In June 2021, European Union parliamentarians, Nobel Laureates, renowned academics, and internationally known figures wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the then Chief Justice of India as well as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and other authorities in India, demanding to the release of political prisoners arrested with relation to the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon incident.
Amidst contested accusations of an anti-India conspiracy, militancy, and violence, five long years have passed since the BK-16 have been imprisoned without trial. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’?
22/06/2023
cjp / by CJP Team
Five years have passed, and human rights defenders (HRDs) and their families continue to await justice.
Surendra Gadling
Status: Detained without trial
Charges:Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since June 2018
Location: Taloja Central Prison, Mumbai
Gadling is a human rights lawyer and a Dalit activist. Over time, Gadling established himself as a keen advocate and a key figure in cases related to extrajudicial killings, police misconduct, false accusations, and injustices against Dalits and Adivasis in the region… Read more
Noted academic Dr Hany Babu, a UAPA prisoner in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been granted honorary doctorate degree by Ghent University in Belgium. Dr Anne Breitbarth, Ghent University in this video read a poem on Babu by Shivangi Mariam Raj. It was published in Maktoob. Watch video
Professor MT Hany Babu, Koregaon-Bhima accused, to get doctorate from Belgium varsity
24/03/2023
Times of India / by TNN
Professor MT Hany Babu, arrested for his alleged role in Koregaon Bhima — Elgar parishad case, is set to receive an honorary doctorate from the faculty of arts and philosophy of Ghent University, Belgium.
Babu, a former Delhi University (DU) associate professor, is in jail since July 2020, with the high court rejecting his bail plea after it was opposed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which claims he is a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The degree and the epitoga for Babu would be handed over to Babu’s promoter Annie Breitbarth, associate professor of inguistic in the German section, on the occasion of the university’s ‘Dies Natalis’ or Anniversary Day on Friday. Read more
Linguistics honour for jailed professor
24/03/2023
The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent
The honour is scheduled to be given on Friday and will be received on Babu’s behalf by Professor Anne Breitbarth of Ghent University’s faculty of arts and philosophy who had recommended his name
Jailed Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu M.T. has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Belgium’s Ghent University. Babu is in a Navi Mumbai jail, awaiting trial in the Elgaar Parishad case.
… Babu was active in the defence committee for G.N. Saibaba, a disabled Delhi University professor serving a life sentence in Nagpur since 2014 for alleged Maoist links. He had earlier been known for his activism for the implementation of OBC reservation in higher education. Read more
Jailed professor Hany Babu gets Honorary Degree by Ghent University in Belgium
23/03/2023
Maktoobmedia / by Maktoob Staff
Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr Hany Babu, who is one of the UAPA prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case has been granted an honorary doctorate degree by Ghent University in Belgium.
The faculty of Arts and Philosophy of Ghent University, which nominated Dr Hany Babu’s name to the executive committee, justified its nomination by pointing at his efforts to safeguard the importance of academic freedom and his commitment to language rights and equal access to education for minorities, said Jenny Rowena, wife of Babu. Read more
Also watch:
Anne Breitbarth, Words of Solidarity for Hany Babu, July 2021
en | 2:24min | 2021
Anne Breitbarth, Associate Professor of Historical Linguistics (Ghent University) offers words of solidarity for Hany Babu on the occasion of one year of Babu’s imprisonment. This pre-recorded video has been made as part of the conference Language and the Problem of Justice organised between 22 and 24 July 2021, by Friends of Hany Babu, in collaboration with Scholars at Risk and The Institute for Post-Colonial Studies. Watch video
Video: “Plan to curtail civil society,” says Hany Babu’s wife Jenny Rowena
Jenny Rowena, the wife of jailed Delhi University professor Hany Babu, laments the situation of prisons in India and accuses that, as a society, we failed to have a social ethos that never undermines prisoners’ rights.
While talking to Maktoob‘s Shaheen Abdulla, she emphasized that medical negligence in prisons has led to serious conditions for Babu, who is booked under UAPA in the Elgar Parishad Bhima Koregaon case. Watch video
Press Conference & Public Meeting: “Conspiracy of Conspiracy Cases”
Wives of Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu, GN Saibaba demand release of ‘political prisoners’
12/01/2023
Maktoob / by Maktoob Staff
Life partners of jailed human rights defenders Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu and GN Saibaba who gathered in national capital Delhi on Thursday under the banner of Campaign Against State Repression, demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners incarcerated under the Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC cases.
This event titled “conspiracy of conspiracy cases” was held to discuss the recent developments in Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC case where top intelligence officers have disclosed that there was no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and Bhima Koregano violence, as well as multiple international forensic reports revealing that the evidence was planted on the BK accused. Read more
Civil rights leaders allege corporate loot of resources, suppression of democratic rights
14/01/2023
Countercurrents / by Our Representative
Civil rights activists have alleged, quoting top intelligence officers as also multiple international forensic reports, that recent developments with regard to the Bhima Koregaon and the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens (CAA-NRC) cases suggest, there was “no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and the Bhima Koregaon violence.”
Activists of the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) told a media event at the HKS Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi, that, despite this, several political prisoners continue to be behind bars on being accused under the anti-terror the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Read more
by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Jan 6, 2023):
[#BhimaKoregaon -Elgar Parishad Case]
#BombayHC is informed that DU Prof Hany Babu’s cataract surgery was successfully performed.
“We expect the jail officials to take the petitioner to the hospital for follow-up treatment. ” -J AS Gadkari.
Plea disposed of.
HC disposes of Hany Babu’s plea after being told about his cataract surgery
06/01/2023
Midday.com / by pti
The court had last month allowed Babu to undergo a cataract surgery and a medical check-up at a city-based hospital.
The Bombay High Court on Friday disposed of the plea by former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parshad-Maoist links case, seeking medical care.
The court had last month allowed Babu to undergo a cataract surgery and a medical check-up at a city-based hospital. Read more
