Bail by Bombay HC to Bhima Koregaon accused, Dr. Varavara Rao

KEY TAKEAWAYS

On 22nd February 2021, the High Court of Bombay stayed its order on the medical parole of 81-year-old beleaguered Telugu poet-Dr. Varavara Rao – convicted in the incident of Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon.

Rao, who struggles from a variety of medical problems, was detained on 28 August 2018 and is reportedly recovering in Nanavati Hospital, after an injunction by the High Court in November of last year.

FURTHER DETAILS

Rao's attorneys have been demanding parole for the elderly man and have been seeking that he be sent back to his residence in Hyderabad for at least three months due to his old age and neurological disorder.

The National Investigation Body and the State have campaigned vociferously against his release on the grounds of the significant charges concerning him. They have, however, indicated their commitment to move him to the Sir JJ Hospital jail, where his situation will be supervised.

The Union of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale will also give a directive to Rao's wife Pendyala Hemlatha's complaint for a resolution that her husband’s rights have been violated, including but not limiting to, fundamental rights to health, independence and life and, as a result, their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Rao had been confined to JJ Hospital last year. However, after he had tested positive for coronavirus, he was admitted to St. George Hospital and ultimately to Nanavati Hospital after mediation by the Human Rights Commission. He was eventually released from the hospital in July of 2020.

His lawyers moved the Bombay High Court in November after it was found that Rao was struggling from Urinary Tract Infection, followed by kidney disease. His discharge summary from St. George's Hospital often related to dementia.

INDIRA JAISINGH’S ARGUMENTS

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, making an appearance in defense of Hemlatha, said that Rao spent 149 days of 365 days a year in the hospital. "Life is dear to everyone, including a prisoner, and the court is here to protect it." she said in her closing statements.

She contended that the only accusation is that letters identifying him have been retrieved from a co-accused’s device.

Jaising reported forth that neither the state nor the NIA had refuted that there were only three Ayurveds in the prison facility, not a solitary allopathic doctor, nor a specialist. "His continued incarceration is incompatible with his health." she said.

Singh again stressed that Rao had been registered under the UAPA Act. However, Justice Shinde acknowledged that the "Speedy trial is considered as a part of fundamental rights," and that Rao was demanding parole on health basis "Two hundred witnesses have been cited, charges are not framed." Justice Shinde added.

BHIMA KOREGAON-ELGAAR PARISHAD INCIDENT

The Elgaar Parishad case, which the NIA has chosen to take over from Pune police, is one of the two progressing examinations identified with the Koregaon Bhima brutality saw on January 1, 2018.

This one depends on a FIR recorded in Pune claiming that prohibited Naxalite bunches had coordinated the Elgaar Parishad, a night program coordinated in the city on December 31, 2017, just before the 200th commemoration of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.

Police guarantees that discourses made at Elgaar Parishad were in any event halfway liable for inciting savagery the following day.

The other examination is into the demonstration of viciousness itself. That examination depends on FIRs recorded by two Dalit ladies, who had claimed that Hindutva bunches were behind the January 1, 2018 brutality where one individual from the Maratha people group was murdered and a few others were harmed.

 In different instances of brutality, around 200 individuals were reserved for their supposed contribution, and addressed, yet every one of them are temporarily free from jail now. 

DO YOU THINK THE DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF THE PRISON MEDICAL FACILITIES BE REVIVED? SHOULD RAO BE ALLOWED TO GO TO HIS HOME IN HYDERABAD? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!