The Wire / by Indradeep Bhattacharyya
A deep commitment to revolutionary humanism runs through Rao’s literary oeuvre – one that successive governments have relentlessly tried to muzzle.
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NDTV / Sreenivasan Jain asks
en | 1:17 min
N Venugopal, nephew of Varavara Rao: “Varavara Rao was lying in a pool of urine, I changed his clothes and the bedsheets. The nurses and constables came and threw us out”
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en 2:48 min
Suchitra Vijayan, Founder and Executive Director, The Polis Project: “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is just”
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en | 1:56 min
Colin Gonsalves, Senior Lawyer: “Strategy of government and NIA seems to be, ‘let us try and have these guys die in jail, before their trials begin’”
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The Times of India / by Swati Deshpande
Mumbai: Opposing his plea for interim bail, National Investigation Agency (NIA) said undertrial-prisoner accused Telugu poet-activist PV Varavara Rao undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at Nanavati Hospital, is “under the garb of current situation on account of global pandemic and his old age is trying to take undue benefit’’.
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++++ The Bombay High Court is set to hear Rao’s plea for medical bail on Thursday +++
The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha
Mumbai: Poet and political thinker Varavara Rao is 79 years old and has been suffering from a neurological disorder. He has tested positive for COVID-19 and doctors have suggested that he is showing signs of dementia… All of this notwithstanding, on Tuesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed that none of this “necessitates him to immediately obtain treatment in [a] multi-specialty hospital”.
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Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap
The National Investigation Agency, which took over the probe in the Bhima Koregaon violence from Pune police in January this year, has reiterated that Varavara Rao, the octogenarian Telugu poet who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, is trying to take undue benefit under the garb of Covid-19 and his old age in seeking bail on medical grounds.
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15/07/2020
BBC / by Geeta Pandey
On Wednesday, when he turns 70 in a Mumbai jail where he’s been imprisoned for 90 days, his family and friends are trying to ensure that he’s not greeted with silence.
Scores of letters and cards wishing him well on his birthday are expected to be delivered at Taloja jail where he’s being held.
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The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Hearing of the interim medical bail plea filed by Bhima-Koregaon case accused Sudha Bharadwaj was adjourned in the Bombay High Court on Monday after the court found the medical report submitted by the Byculla jail superintendent to be illegible.
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National Herald / by PTI
A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and S P Tavade asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the state to inform the court about Rao’s health condition and clarify by July 22 whether his family members could be permitted to see him.
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The Indian Express / by Express News Service
The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notices to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government and sought their responses on the plea filed by Varavara Rao’s co-inmates, who sought that they should be tested for Covid-19 too as they were in close contact with Rao at Taloja Central prison … The Court issued notices to NIA and state government and posted further hearing on Thursday, July 23.
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The Indian Express / by Colin Gonsalves
The observation of the Court in Bharadwaj’s case that the decision as to whether a document is admissible in evidence or not will have to wait for the trial stage is unbelievable. Courts routinely exclude inadmissible documents or statements (such as hearsay) from consideration while deciding bail applications.
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By Hemalatha, P Sahaja, P Anala, P Pavana
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
New Delhi: A group of 146 scholars from across the world have come together to ask the Indian government to release 80-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao from prison. Rao is currently in Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital for neurological and urological treatment. He has also tested positive for COVID-19.
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Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk
The protesters said that the current government is harassing those who are fighting for people’s rights. They condemned the actions of the government and the indifference of the courts.
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Mumbai Mirrror / by Abhishek Sharan
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has summoned Delhi University’s associate professor, Hany Babu M Tarayil, for questioning on Friday (July 24) as part of its probe into the December 2017 Elgar Parishad case.
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The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Two days after writer-poet Varavara Rao (80), accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, tested positive for Covid-19, 20 other inmates of Taloja Central Jail, including Vernon Gonsalves (61), a co-accused in the case, have tested negative, prison officials said Saturday.
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