Varavara Rao is currently in Taloja Prison, near Mumbai (archive)
Highlight
- Varavara Rao has been in prison for more than two years in the Koregaon-Bhima case
- Mumbai High Court has denied him bail
- The court said the case would be heard again on November 17.
Bombay:
Poet-activist Varavara Rao, imprisoned for more than two years in the Koregaon-Bhima case, will be examined by a panel of doctors via video call, the Bombay High Court said today as his family requested his release and transfer to a hospital on account. of his deteriorating health.
“He is bedridden. He is in diapers … This man is going to flee from justice,” argued activist Indira Jaising’s lawyer before the Superior Court, saying that his health was deteriorating rapidly and he had dementia.
The court, which published the next hearing for Tuesday, said a video call with doctors from a private hospital should be arranged as soon as possible. “In order to assess Varavara Rao’s current condition, it will be appropriate to have a video medical examination. All parties agree that the video consultation can be arranged today or tomorrow morning by the Nanavati hospital doctors who made the report on the 30th of July, “the court said, referring to a previous medical evaluation.
Varavara Rao, 80, was arrested in January 2018 and charged under a strict anti-terrorism law, the Prevention of Illicit Activities Act, which allows for detention without trial for years. His family alleged that his continued imprisonment for poor health amounts to a violation of article 21 of the constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty. He also contracted Covid in prison.
He has been in the Taloja jail near Mumbai and it was a co-defendant, Stan Swamy, who called lawyers and informed them that Mr. Rao was in very bad shape, Ms. Jaising said.
“I am seeking urgent interim relief to transfer Varavara Rao from Taloja prison to Nanavati hospital. The last relief I am seeking is for him to be released as his rights are being violated,” Ms Jaising told the court.
He said that Taloja jail did not have the infrastructure of a superspecialty hospital to treat a person with Varavara Rao’s conditions and that he needed to be with his family. In this condition, he could not even be tried, he told the court, adding that if he died in prison, it would be a death in custody.
Taloja jail was in the headlines recently because TV host Arnab Goswami was detained there after his arrest in a 2018 suicide incitement case. Mr. Goswami was released on bail yesterday by the Supreme Court, which reiterated the principle that bail is the rule and jail is the exception and sent a message to the higher courts that they must exercise their jurisdiction to uphold the principle of personal liberty.
Those who campaigned for Varavara Rao’s release argued why the same standards could not be applied to him and other jailed activists such as Sudha Bhardwaj and Stan Swamy, also arrested in the Koregaon-Bhima case.
The case, which is being investigated by the National Investigative Agency (NIA), involves allegations of provocative speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police say sparked violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war. monument.
Varavara Rao and nine other activists were accused of plotting violence with the Maoists. Mr. Rao, who ran “Veerasam”, an association of revolutionary writers, has flatly denied the accusation.
Recently, Father Stan Swamy, another activist arrested in the same case, requested a straw and a sip to drink water because he had Parkinson’s disease, but the NIA asked for 20 days to respond.
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