+++ Udpate: VV Rao has been moved to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai +++
By Citizens In Solidarity with Vara Vara Rao
Do sign this open appeal to @PMOIndia & @CMOMaharashtra to #FreeVaravaraRao & ensure proper medical treatment. Click on link below to sign. Add ur name, organizational/professional affiliation and city/location.
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Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap
In a Sunday hearing, a special court in Mumbai denied default bail to activist Gautam Navlakha who is currently lodged at Taloja jail. Court also allowed NIA’s application seeking custody of Navlakha for ten days in order to question him in the Bhima Koregaon case …
Moreover, Judge Kothalikar accepted NIA’s plea seeking extension of 90 to 180 days to file chargesheet against Navlakha and Dr. Anand Teltumbde, also accused of being a part of the maoist movement and inciting the caste based violence that took place on the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon through speeches at the Elgar Parishad conclave a day earlier on December 31, 2017.
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The Caravan / by Nileena MS
On the evening of 11 July, the 81-year-old poet Varavara Rao called his wife, Hemalatha, from the overcrowded Taloja Central Prison in Maharashtra, sounding incoherent and delirious, according to a press release circulated by his family …
Families and lawyers of others who have been imprisoned in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case have pointed out they are barely able to communicate with the inmates during the pandemic. At least four of the 11 undertrial prisoners have pre-existing medical conditions that make them vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
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+++ Udpate June 13: VV Rao has been moved to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai +++
Counter Currents / statement by Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Devaki Jain, Maja Daruwala & Satish Deshpande
We appeal to the Government of Maharashtra and the National Investigation Agency to facilitate the immediate transfer of Mr. Varavara Rao to JJ Hospital where he can receive proper treatment. Mr Rao poses no flight risk and has voluntarily submitted to all investigations for the past 22 months. There is no reason in law or conscience to hold him in circumstances that increase risk to his fragile health.
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Scroll.in / by Sruthisagar Yamunan
The National Investigation Agency inquiring into the Bhima Koregaon case in Maharashtra has summoned Delhi University associate professor MT Hany Babu to appear before it in Mumbai on July 15. The summons were delivered to him by an officer on Saturday. Babu described the agency’s move as “harassment”.
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By Vara Vara Rao’s Family
DON’T KILL VARA VARA RAO IN JAIL !!
We, the family members of Varavara Rao, world-renowned Telugu revolutionary poet and public intellectual, who is incarcerated in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail, are very much worried about his deteriorating health. His health condition has been scary for over six weeks now, ever since he was shifted in an unconscious state to JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail on May 28, 2020. Even as he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to jail three days later, there has been no improvement in his health and he is still in need of emergency heathcare. …
By The Real Anand Teltumbde / @TeltumbdeA
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Rao, who has been in jail for close to two years, has been unwell since the lockdown and his family claim that he is suffering from memory loss.
Mumbai: The health of 78- year-old political activist, poet and writer Varavara Rao, who has been in jail for close to two years, has worsened. His family has alleged that the prison department has been blocking information on his condition from reaching them.
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The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
81-year-old famous poet not receiving any treatment inside jail, they say.
Varavara Rao, 81-year-old famous poet incarcerated at the Taloja jail, called his family after eight days on Saturday and spoke about his parents’ death, said his daughter Pavana …
Mr. Rao’s appeal against rejecting his bail is slated to be heard by the Bombay High Court on July 17.
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Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap
The Bombay High Court on Friday while hearing an appeal filed by lawyer and tribal rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj directed the National Investigation Agency and state government to take instructions regarding the prevailing conditions in Byculla jail and the social distancing measures being implemented in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Hindustan Times / by KAY Dohiya
On Friday, while hearing the application of Bharadwaj, the bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice Madhav Jamdar was informed by senior advocate Yug Choudhary that the conditions in Byculla women’s prison were deplorable due to congestion and as Bharadwaj suffered from co-morbidities there was a threat to her well-being and hence should be granted interim bail… The court directed the prison authorities and state to submit an affidavit regarding enlisting the condition of inmates in Byculla women’s prison and posted the matter for hearing on July 17.
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Live Law / by Sanya Talwar
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned an appeal moved by State of Maharashtra against the Delhi High Court order setting aside Gautam Navlakha’s transit remand.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S. Abdul Nazeer & Indira Banerjee allowed the State Government to file a compilation earmarking list of dates along with a convenience in the appeal which has contended that the habeas corpus petition filed by Navlakha before the High Court is not maintainable. For this purpose, the State Government has gone on to cite two Supreme Court judgements – State of Maharashtra v. Tanseem Rizwan Siddique and Saurabh Kumar v. Jailor, Koneil Jail.
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