Image Courtesy: thehindu.com
On July 12, 2022, the Supreme Court extended the interim protection to activist and poet, Dr P Varavara Rao till further orders. The bench comprising Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia adjourned his plea for permanent bail on medical grounds to July 19, 2022.
The 83-year-old had challenged the Bombay High Court order which rejected his appeal for permanent medical bail. He is currently on bail on medical grounds, and was to surrender on Tuesday.
As reported by the Hindustan Times, while solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), sought an adjournment and did not object to the extension of the protection, Senior advocate Anand Grover, who appeared for Rao, did not object to NIA’s request.
Mr. Mehta requested the bench to extend the interim bail only till July 19, but considering the possibility that the case may be adjourned on July 19 too for some reason, the court denied the request. The Court reportedly stated, “If some situation occurs on the next date and the matter is not taken up, we do not want the man to be picked up.”
In his appeal, Rao has said that he has undergone over two years of incarceration as an under-trial, and is currently enlarged on bail on medical grounds by the Bombay High Court, reported Time Of India. “Any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination,” the plea reportedly stated. It further stated that Rao had challenged the high court order as he was not granted an extension of bail despite his age and precarious health condition, and his prayer to shift to Hyderabad was also denied, reported the Indian Express.
Brief Background
Rao was arrested in August 2018 but was remanded to house arrest until November 2018, when he was taken to Pune. It was alleged that Rao was a member of banned organisation – Communist Party of India (Maoist) and was actively involved in arranging funding and providing arms and ammunition to the organisation to wage war against the established Government.
It is pertinent to note that out of all the accused in Bhima Koregaon case, Rao is the only one who has been granted such temporary bail, while others continue to languish in prison. Fr. Stan Swamy who was 84 years of age, died on July 5, 2021, incidentally on a day when his bail plea was being heard.
While granting him bail for six months the court had observed, “With all humility at our command, keeping in view human consideration, the well-recognized fundamental rights of the undertrial to have quality medical aid for serious ailments suffered by him, advanced age, inadequate facilities in the hospital attached to the Taloja Central Prison, we are of the opinion that this is a genuine and fit case to grant relief; or else, we will be abdicating our constitutional duty and function as a protector of human rights and right to health covered under right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”
On April 13, 2022, the Bombay High Court extended the temporary bail of Telugu poet Varavara Rao by three months, while refusing the petition seeking permanent bail and disallowing permission to stay in his Telangana home in Hyderabad.
Dr. Varavara Rao, the Telugu poet accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, had approached the Bombay High Court for extension of his medical bail and also seeking permissions to reside in his home in Telangana, on the grounds that he is still ailing and has not flouted any bail conditions.
In February 2021, the Bombay High Court had granted medical bail to Rao owing to his deteriorating health in the past one year and while also taking into consideration his advanced age. He was admitted to the hospital multiple times for various reasons including contracting Covid-19 and some infections, and he was finally granted bail after the court took a humanitarian view towards his condition.
While the court, when it granted bail for six months, had stated that he was free to be discharged from Nanavati Hospital, it directed that Rao cannot leave the jurisdiction of Mumbai. In his current plea he had mentioned that he couldn’t afford to live in Mumbai with his 72-year-old wife away from his home in Telangana.
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