Jailed Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu M.T. has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Belgium’s Ghent University. Babu is in a Navi Mumbai jail, awaiting trial in the Elgaar Parishad case.

The brief citation on the university website says: “Professor Hany is a linguist from India who, in addition to his academic research in syntax and semantics, works on issues of language ideology, language policy and language politics. His focus is on equal opportunities and fair acces sto education for the speakers of marginalised languages.”

Babu was active in the defence committee for G.N. Saibaba, a disabled Delhi University professor serving a life sentence in Nagpur since 2014 for alleged Maoist links. He had earlier been known for his activism for the implementation of OBC reservation in higher education.

While in prison, Babu has had to move court to obtain spectacles, as well as treatment for an eye infection.

The honour is scheduled to be given on Friday and will be received on Babu’s behalf by Professor Anne Breitbarth of Ghent University’s faculty of arts and philosophy who had recommended his name. He is among seven renowned academics from across the world who will be honoured.

His wife Jenny Rowena P., an assistant professor at Miranda House here, told The Telegraph: “The State thinks he is a criminal but there are people who can see the truth, and appreciate his contribution to education and social justice. This gives us a lot of strength.”

Sixteen intellectuals, academics, lawyers and activists have been arrested in an investigation into alleged Maoist links to an Ambedkarite event on December 31, 2017, which was followed by caste clashes that claimed one life.