Hany Babu permitted to travel to Kerala to meet mother, court allows law enforcement agencies to monitor his whereabouts
A special court has permitted Delhi University professor and Elgaar Parishad accused Hany Babu to travel to Kerala on humanitarian grounds, while allowing the NIA to monitor his whereabouts.
A special court allowed Hany Babu, an associate professor at Delhi University, to visit Kerala to meet his elderly mother on humanitarian grounds. (File Photo/Ganesh Shirsekar)
Noting that meeting his 80-year-old mother after nearly six years in jail is a ‘just consideration’, a special court permitted Hany Babu, an associate professor at Delhi University and accused in the Elgaar.
Parishad case, to travel to Kerala. Among the conditions laid out for the visit, the court said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) may monitor Babu’s whereabouts through his cell phone number and ‘also with assistance of its resources and/or with assistance of law enforcing agency of the State’.
“Hon’ble High Court while granting bail to this applicant/ accused in its magnanimity, left it to the discretion of this court whether to allow applicant/accused to leave territorial jurisdiction of the court, particularly considering propriety of the reason for which he proposes to do so. I hold that, to go and meet his age-old mother is just consideration, that too, after nearly about six good long years.
The accused is entitled to go to visit and stay with her for a few days,” special judge C S Baviskar said in the order passed on February 10, considering it as a ‘humanitarian ground’. The court partly allowed the plea, directing Babu to return to Mumbai by March 2, to give his attendance at the NIA office in the city.
The special court said that the high court’s bail conditions imposed on Babu include attendance at the NIA office, on the first Monday of every month and it cannot substitute the condition imposed by the high
court.
The high court had asked Babu to inform the NIA of his place of residence in the city, and to surrender his passport, and also provide his phone number to the NIA and to the trial court on which he can be contacted.
Additionally, while permitting him to travel to Kerala, the special court said that Babu shall keep his mobile always ‘alive, active and charged’, so that his whereabouts if required may be traced by the NIA. “For that, if he is called on mobile phone, the applicant/accused shall respond promptly. During this period of concession of remaining beyond jurisdiction, the NIA may monitor the whereabouts of present applicant/accused by means of mobile cell phone number as above and also with assistance of its resources and/or with assistance of law enforcing agency of the State,” the court said.
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When the Supreme Court had granted bail to other co-accused Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Shoma Sen, it had imposed a condition stating that they keep their location status (GPS) on 24 hours a day
and pair their phones with the investigating officer of the NIA to enable them to identify their location at any given point.
Babu was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on December 4, 2025. The court had said that he cannot leave the territorial jurisdiction of the high court without permission of the special judge. Babu in his plea filed before the special judge had said that he may be permitted to visit Kerala for two months to meet his mother, who is in frail health and to undergo a medical treatment.
The NIA had opposed the plea stating that the case is serious and ‘merely for personal convenience’ he cannot be permitted to seek such a relief. The agency also said that no medical certificate was submitted by Babu regarding
his mother’s health.
Babu had said that he had been behind bars since 2020 and had not visited Kerala to meet his mother. The court said that if these undisputed/admitted facts are any indication, on humanitarian ground, he deserves concession to go and meet his age-old mother even though according to the respondent/NIA, no medical certificate of her frail health is not accompanying with the application’.
Sadaf Modak is a distinguished Legal Correspondent based in Mumbai whose work demonstrates exceptional Expertise and Authority in covering the intricacies of the judicial and correctional systems. Reporting for The Indian Express, she is a highly Trustworthy source for in-depth coverage of courtroom proceedings and human rights issues.
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