Varavara gets six-month bail in Elgar Parishad case
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday granted bail to Telugu poet and activist P Varavara Rao for six months on health grounds, nearly two and a half years after he was arrested in connection with the so-called Elgar Parishad case.
The 82-year-old Rao, arrested on August 28, 2018 from his residence at Hyderabad, was asked by the court to remain in Mumbai. A division bench of justice SS Shinde and justice Manish Pitale said in the course of delivering its order that the answer to the question -- can aged prisoners with various health conditions be forced to live a subhuman existence behind the bars only because they stand accused of serious offences -- has to be in the negative. The National Investigation Agency opposed the bail, and pointed out that Rao had been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, under which bail isn’t usually granted, but the bench held that under-trial prisoners can be granted bail purely on the grounds of sickness, advanced age, infirmity and health conditions, if continued incarceration is found to be incompatible with their health and endangers their life.
In this case, the court concluded that the hospital attached to Taloja Central Prison, where Rao was lodged, was ill-equipped and inadequate to take care of his health; his health had deteriorated when he was admitted to various government hospitals in the city; and it improved only when he was shifted to Nanavati Hospital, a private super-specialty hospital.
“In view of the aforesaid material and sequence of events, we have come to the conclusion that sending the under-trial (Rao) back to Taloja Central Prison would certainly endanger his life,” the court added.
As part of the bail conditions, Rao has to report to the nearest police station in Mumbai through a fortnightly Whatsapp video call. He has also been told not to make any statements regarding the case in any form.
Rao’s family in Hyderabad welcomed the court’s decision.
“It is really a big relief for all of us that he will be out of jail after a gap of more than two-and-ahalf years. But it is unfortunate that the court did not grant him permission to return to his home in Hyderabad,” said Rao’s brother-in-law N Venugopal, who is also a poet and writer. Rao’s wife Hemalatha is in Mumbai, awaiting his release.
According to Venugopal, there are two more cases pending against Rao, one in connection with a 2005 Maoist attack in Pavagada in Kolar district of Karnataka and another case of trucks burning at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra in 2016. “While he got the bail in Pavagada case, the bail petition pertaining to Gadchiroli case is pending before the Bombay high court. Since the same high court has granted him bail, it won’t be a problem for his release from jail,” he added.