NOIDA: The Pune Police on Tuesday conducted searches at the residence of Delhi University professor Hany Babu M T in Noida in connection with the investigation into Elgaar Parishad case.
The search was conducted in connection with offences registered at Pune’s Vishrambaug police station under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 and 121A (waging or attempting to wage war against government), 124A (sedition), among others. Babu, who has been an associate professor at the university’s English department for more than a decade, was not named in the FIR, according to police.
Jenny Rowena, his wife, who teaches in the English department of Miranda House, tweeted: “Today Pune police entered our house at 6.30 in the morning. They said that Hany Babu (my husband) is involved in the Bhima Koregaon case and that for this, they could search the house without a search warrant. They searched for 6 hours, took 3 books, laptop, phone, hard disks.”
Later in the day, Babu issued a statement on Twitter saying that an inspector called Shivaji Pawar among 20 other men had come to his apartment to conduct the raid. “They made me change the passwords of my social media accounts and my email accounts. They have complete access to these accounts... I don’t understand how a government agency can seize my work without providing me the reasons for it, or the basis on which a search was conducted at my residence,” he said.
Babu, a vocal anti-caste crusader, is also a member of the Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr. G N Saibaba, the disabled Delhi University academic who is in jail for alleged Maoist links.The Delhi University Teachers Association condemned the searches, describing Babu as an outstanding teacher.
Academic Council Member Rasal Singh, however, said: “The English department of DU is becoming a centre of such anti-national activities.”