Supreme Court directs Hany Babu to approach High Court or trial court for bail in the Elgar Parishad case. The Court refused to clarify its earlier order and granted liberty to revive his withdrawn plea.
New Delhi: Today, on July 16, the Supreme Court of India told former Delhi University professor Hany Babu to file a fresh bail application either before the Bombay High Court or the trial court in the Elgar Parishad–Maoist links case.
A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and P B Varale made this decision while dismissing Babu’s plea seeking clarification on whether withdrawing his earlier appeal barred him from seeking bail from the High Court.
Babu had earlier approached the Supreme Court for bail but withdrew his plea on May 3, 2023, as he decided to approach the High Court instead.
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However, when he went to the Bombay High Court, the court noted that the Supreme Court’s order allowing withdrawal of the plea did not specifically give him the freedom to approach the High Court for bail. Therefore, the High Court directed him to get a clarification from the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, Babu’s counsel submitted that Babu had already spent five years in jail as an undertrial and had withdrawn his earlier petition before the Supreme Court only to seek relief from the High Court.
He also pointed out that five other co-accused in the same case had already been granted bail by the High Court.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating the case, opposed the plea. The NIA’s lawyer argued that the application was not maintainable and said a new bail request should be made before the special NIA court.
He also argued that the High Court is an appellate court and since the case involves serious charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), it must be handled by the NIA court first.
To this, the Supreme Court bench responded,
“Your primary ground is, some other accused has been granted bail, that can also be considered by the trial court.”
The Court also added that it could not issue a direction to the High Court to hear Babu’s bail plea, but said Babu is free to revive the earlier appeal he had withdrawn last year.
The Supreme Court made it clear,
“We can’t direct the High Court to consider his bail plea,”
but granted him the liberty to seek revival of the special leave petition which he had taken back.
Earlier, on September 19, 2022, the Bombay High Court had rejected Babu’s bail request.
Hany Babu was arrested in July 2020 and has been in custody at Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai since then.
The NIA has accused him of being involved in spreading Maoist ideology and acting on instructions from senior members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). According to the NIA, Babu was a co-conspirator in this effort.
The case is linked to a public event called the Elgar Parishad held on December 31, 2017, at Pune’s Shaniwarwada.
The police allege that speeches made at the event incited violence the next day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of Pune. One person lost their life and several others were injured in the incident.
Originally, the case was handled by the Pune Police but was later transferred to the NIA. Over a dozen human rights activists, lawyers, and academicians have been named as accused in this case.
Recently, Babu approached the High Court in June this year to challenge an earlier order by the special NIA court that had denied him bail. In his petition, Babu stated that the special court had “erred” in its decision by concluding that there was
“prima facie incriminating material”
against him.
In response, the NIA strongly objected to Babu’s bail and argued that he was actively involved in
“activities to promote Naxalism” and aimed “to overthrow the government.”
CASE TITLE:
HANY BABU vs NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY AND ANR MA 1208/2025 in SLP(Crl) No. 1596/2024
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