Over the past five months since he was arrested and sent to the Gautam Buddha Nagar District Jail, 24-year-old Himanshu Thakur has spent most of his time reading. The passion for books paid off when the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) results were announced: he scored 99.3 percentile in history, the subject in which he did his postgraduation from Delhi University.

“Most of my time in jail has been spent reading books. Initially I focused on preparing for NET. The study material was brought by friends from outside jail. Apart from NET material, I read novels, poems and stories,” he told The Hindu at the prison in Greater Noida.

On April 18, Uttar Pradesh Police picked Mr. Himanshu from his flat in Shalimar Bagh in north Delhi for “helping instigate and coordinate violence” during the agitation in April.

The police have also accused him of being in contact with Aditya Anand, whom police have described as a “key figure” in the stir. Mr. Himanshu was booked in 11 FIRs, of which he has secured bail in eight.

His sister, Neha Thakur, said he was preparing for a PhD interview at Jamia Millia Islamia when he was picked up, adding that he intends to pursue a PhD in environmental history.

‘Never gave up dreams’

“He did not give up on his dreams of research and continued his preparation in jail. As I have been visiting him every week since then and getting him books to read, I know he has read at least 15 books. He is currently working on a research paper,” said Ms. Neha.

His achievement has strengthened the parents’ faith in him, even as they are yet to come to terms with the fact that he is in prison.

“Had my son been a ‘conspirator’, would he have spent his time in jail studying? He has been the brightest student all his life. We are extremely proud parents of a talented son,” said his mother, Manisha Thakur.

The family, which hails from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, is currently based in Uttarakhand, from where the three travel regularly to see Mr. Himanshu. During their meeting in the prison’s meeting room on September 2, their father could not take his eyes off his son while the mother kept calling out his name.

Since the arrest, their father, a retired postmaster, has suffered panic attacks and has difficulty sleeping, said Ms. Neha.

“Our father has never been able to believe that Himanshu could end up in jail. He wakes up at night from anxiety and keeps mumbling that Himanshu is innocent,” she added.

Ms. Neha said their mother has supported his son unconditionally. “She even participated in the Noida protests to support the workers,” she said.

Speaking from behind an iron mesh barrier, Mr. Himanshu said other activists lodged in the prison on similar charges also spend as much time with books as they can.

Translating Brecht

“While Satyam [Satyam Verma, a journalist, who has been booked under the National Security Act] has translated works of Bertolt Brecht into Hindi, Aditya has written a few articles,” said Mr. Himanshu.

He added, “We decided to clean and repair the jail library and were granted access to it once a week.”

Mr. Himanshu was a presidential candidate in the 2023 Delhi University Students’ Union polls from the Disha Students’ Organization. He is also a member of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party (India).