NIA raids Prof Hany Babu’s house; DUTA asks govt to stop witch-hunt

Image Courtesy:deccanherald.com

In the early hours of a Sunday morning, August 2, the house of Delhi University Professor Hany Babu was raided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The purported objective was to gather evidence of Hany Babu’s alleged links with a North East based insurgent group, Kangkeipak Communist Party-Military Council (KCP-MC). The NIA claims that it has retrieved several communications between Hany Babu and other Manipur based outfits. “KCP is a banned North East based insurgent group which indulges in extortion from government offices on the pretext of taking protection money and is involved in several violent incidents over the years,” a counter-insurgency official told the Hindustan Times.

On July 28, Hany Babu was arrested by the NIA from his residence in Noida, Gautama Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. The arrest comes after they had summoned Prof Babu to Mumbai for investigations on July 15 2020. According to the NIA spokesperson quoted in Hindustan Times, “Prof Hany Babu was propagating Naxal activities and Maoist ideology and was a co-conspirator with other arrested accused.” Babu has been accused in connection with the 2017 case which alleged that “provocative speeches” were made at an Elgar Parishad event organised by the Kabir Kala Manch at Shaniwarwada in Pune, Maharashtra on December 31. It was alleged that those speeches incited people, and promoted enmity between caste groups leading to violence on January 1, 2018.

During the raid, the only two people present in the house, were Hany Babu’s wife Prof Jenny Rowena and her minor daughter. Rowena teaches English at Miranda House and she termed the raid as ‘harassment’. 12 NIA personnel conducted the raid, along with some Delhi Police officials. The Frontline reported that they were there for four hours and took away hard drives, pen drives and booklets pertaining to the Defence Committee for G.N. Saibaba, of which Hany Babu was a member (G.N. Saibaba is a Delhi University professor who is 90 per cent disabled, arrested in 2014 for having Maoist links and convicted in 2017).

As reported by the Hindustan Times, the NIA statement of August 2 stated, “Hany Babu M T was found to be a co-conspirator along with other accused persons propagating Naxal activities and Maoist ideology. The investigation also revealed that Hany Babu was in contact with Paikhomba Meitei, Secretary Information and Publicity, Military Affairs of Kangkeipak Communist Party (MC), an organisation banned under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act…. An interview of Ganapathy, General Secretary of CPI (Maoist) was shared by Paikhomba Meitei with the accused Hany Babu. Communications of Hany Babu with other Maoists of Manipur have also been retrieved”. The agency further said, “After the release of CPI (Maoist) leader Pallath Govindankutty, Hany Babu, along with co-accused Rona Wilson, took the initiative to help him financially by raising funds.”

This act of the NIA was condemned by the Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) and the President of DUTA, Prof Rajib Ray said, “As President of the DUTA, I strongly protest and urge the government to desist from these illegal, strong-arm tactics, and immediately stop this witch-hunt against academics and scholars.”

The house of Hany Babu and Rowena was raided in September 2019 as well in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. Back then, the team that raided his house seized his laptops, mobile, all pen drives, hard drives, even locked his email accounts. They even checked books, especially two book, one was Understanding Maoists, by N Venugopal, the other was From Varna to Jati: Political Economy of Caste in Indian Social Formation by Yalavarthi Naveen Babu.

Rowena told Hindustan Times, since Hany Babu’s bail application is up for hearing in 2 days, the NIA was scrambling for “things to show in court”.

The arrest of Hany Babu had seen a wave of shock and anger amongst academic and the activist fraternity. Author Meena Kandasamy said, “The witch-hunt in the #BhimaKoregaon case continues. Now, the 12th arrest has been made, Prof MT Hany Babu, Delhi University. What does an English professor have to do with this case? Nothing, except a fascist state sending a signal that any noise will be crushed ruthlessly.”