For the five years that he spent in jail as an undertrial in the Elgaar Parishad case, says Hany Babu M T, he often dreamt that he was back teaching at Delhi University, attending academic conferences, or meeting authorities over implementation of OBC reservation (a pet concern of his).
He was suspended as per service rules following his arrest, with the National Investigation Agency accusing him among others of being part of a conspiracy to further the activities of the banned CPI (Maoist). Babu was specifically charged with being part of a defence committee formed to secure the release of G N Saibaba, another Delhi University professor. Saibaba was acquitted of charges of alleged Maoist links in March last year, and passed away months later, in October.
Babu was granted bail on grounds of long incarceration without a trial, which is yet to commence. Of the 16 arrested in the case, only three remain in custody now.
Babu says the initial prison days were exacting as he was kept in solitary confinement as part of the Covid quarantine, for nearly a month. He could not leave his cell or interact with anyone. “I was constantly worried if my family members knew where I was. It was only in the third week, when I spoke to my lawyers, that I was assured,” he says.
In May 2021, Babu developed an acute eye infection, which affected his vision, and was allegedly denied access to healthcare till his wife Jenny Rowena, also an assistant professor at Delhi University, wrote to the authorities.
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Babu almost lost sight in one eye, and says he wasn’t the only one to face such a situation. “The prison authorities are in complete denial about health issues. If you complain about anything, it is usually trivialised at first. My vision was affected, my eye was red, but was told initially that maybe I put something in my eye. I was told I would be taken to hospital if a guard was available,” Babu says.
While he was taken to hospital eventually, and diagnosed with orbital cellulitis, the pain in the eye lingers. “I keep telling her (Rowena) that, if not for you, I would have died in jail,” Babu says.
He also contracted Covid, but was happy when his quarantine month ended, and he was moved to a regular barrack – even though the 22-capacity barrack often held three times more prisoners.
While there were many moments in the prison when he wondered how he would survive, Babu says, he came to realise that survival was a way of resistance. “When you are confined, they want to break you. The best way to resist is to not succumb. The only way you can fight back is by being healthy, keeping your mind alive, active, and doing things which are positive.”
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It can be more difficult for the family, Babu adds, “who struggle on the outside”.
Prayer too helped, with the agnostic Babu learning to offer namaz and read the Quran for “personal strength”.
Rowena, often along with their daughter Farzana, visited every few months, travelling to Mumbai from Delhi. They also kept in touch over letters. While he wrote every week, a letter would take weeks to get delivered. “The letters and their response would get all jumbled up due to this. It felt like living in multiple time zones,” Babu recalls.
At other times, video calls and phone calls helped, and it was through these that he kept in touch with his mother who lives in Kerala.
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To keep himself busy, Babu taught other inmates English, read books and learnt other languages, including Tamil, Urdu and some Arabic. “I also took up writing on linguistics in Malayalam, with not much work done in the area.”
While he is confined to Mumbai for the time being, Babu hopes to be able to go to Delhi and have his suspension from the university revoked. “Only once I go back can I start the struggle of getting my job back.”
Most of the accused in the Elgaar Parishad case are not residents of Mumbai, but bail conditions don’t allow them to live outside Mumbai for more than a few weeks. Co-accused Gautam Navlakha’s petition to reside in Delhi during the pendency of the case is pending in the High Court.
A lot of his time in prison went towards writing legal applications for prisoners, or training others in drafting them, and Babu, who has a law degree, hopes to pursue this. “Five years inside has given me a good education in law.”
