On July 28, Delhi University professor 51-year-old Hany Babu will complete five years of incarceration.
When the National Investigation Agency came for Babu in 2020, India was battling the Covid-19 virus, which is known to fester and multiply in densely packed spaces, such as prison cells.
Babu was soon infected by the virus, but his suffering was not limited to it. He subsequently contracted a serious eye infection for which he was hospitalised after his condition was reported to have deteriorated alarmingly.
At the time of his arrest, his daughter was 17 years old, and his mother – then in her late 70s – kept telling his wife, Jenny Rowena: “Go and tell the judge that Babu is a nice person. Tell the lawyer this, that Babu is a good person and he has done no crime. Tell them to let him out, his mother is waiting.”
But now, she has stopped saying this, Rowena, who is also a Delhi University professor, said in a phone call. “It’s been five years and she is not able to sleep,” Rowena added. “She is now in her 80s, has a lot of health issues and she just waits for that one phone call every week.”
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