No bail, but doctors to examine Varavara Rao

Ailing Telugu poet and activist P Varavara Rao, arrested in August 2018 in reference to the Bhima Koregaon case and constantly denied bail, could get higher medical case with a division bench of the Bombay excessive court docket on Thursday directing Maharashtra and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to rearrange for an instantaneous video medical session for him with medical doctors at Nanavati Hospital. If the medical doctors consider a go to is critical, they need to go to Taloja jail, the place Rao is housed, the court docket ordered, asking {that a} report be submitted by November 16.

The bench, comprising justices AK Menon and SP Tavade, additionally acceded to the request for a listening to after the report was submitted and posted the listening to of the petition of Rao’s spouse P Hemlatha on November 17 at 3pm. The bench was listening to a writ petition looking for bail for Rao on well being grounds.

The HC proceedings on Thursday got here a day after the Supreme Court requested excessive courts to “exercise their jurisdiction” and be sure that individuals’s liberty is protected. Justice DY Chandrachud stated this whereas listening to a plea filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, looking for interim bail. The bench granted him bail and he was launched from Taloja jail the identical day.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, showing for Rao, knowledgeable the court docket there’s an urgency to listen to the petition as a result of a fellow inmate talked to Hemlatha on Wednesday and knowledgeable her that Rao’s well being was deteriorating. NIA admitted in its affidavit that Rao’s well being isn’t good however added that medical doctors at Taloja jail had been often checking his situation and offering vital therapy.

“There is a legitimate apprehension that Rao will lose his life if he continues to be kept in Taloja jail. The court was not informed about Rao being shifted out of Nanavati Hospital to Taloja jail. No medical report has been submitted after July 30,” argued Jaising. “Condition of detention cannot be cruel, inhuman and degrading. But it is in the case of Rao. It is violating his rights under Article 21 and 32 of the Constitution. If he dies in jail it will be a case of custodial death.”

Jaising then sought an interim order to have Rao despatched to Nanavati Hospital and to additionally represent an unbiased board of medical doctors to evaluate his situation.

Additional solicitor common Anil Singh, showing for NIA, and chief public prosecutor Deepak Thakare claimed medical doctors at Taloja jail had been often checking Rao’s well being. Thakare additionally submitted a medical report of November 12, claiming a check-up was carried out in session with medical doctors from Nanavati hospital. He added that when Rao’s situation worsened he was moved to Nanavati, and that his household was allowed to have video calls with him.

Rao was first taken to JJ Hospital on May 28 after he fell unconscious, however was discharged on June 1. The household alleged that Rao was discharged in a hurried method to impede his bail plea. “June 2 was the date of hearing on his bail application on health grounds in the NIA Special Sessions Court and police argued against his bail showing a normal report from the hospital,” his household had stated. His bail was denied by an NIA court docket on June 26.

Rao continued to point out indicators of delirium, although, and after voices had been raised from numerous quarters, Rao was admitted to JJ Hospital once more on July 13. Later he was shifted to St George’s Hospital after he examined positive for Covid-19.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) additionally intervened and issued discover on July 13 to the Maharashtra authorities, asking it to make sure Rao was taken care of. It additionally sought a report on Rao’s well being. Maharashtra chief secretary responded on July 22, saying ample care was supplied.

The fee noticed that the precise to life and medical care is among the primary human rights and the state is obligation sure to offer the identical to a prisoner as properly. Rao was then moved to Nanavati hospital for therapy. He was shifted again to Taloja jail on August 28.

In October, Hemlatha moved the Supreme Court looking for bail however a three-judge bench that heard the case on October 29, whereas mentioning that the Bombay HC had not heard the case since September 17, declined to behave on it. The bench requested the Bombay court docket to listen to his plea on the earliest.

Rao is accused of taking part and making an inflammatory speech on the Elgar Parishad convention in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The police have claimed that activists together with Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferriera, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde deliberate the Elgar Parishad conclave, which was supposed to incite violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018. Many of them have been arrested, and most charged underneath the draconian UAPA legislation.