Browsed by
Category: Case Update

Can Varavara Rao Be Sent To Prison Amid Covid-19 Surge? Bombay HC Extends Time To Surrender

Can Varavara Rao Be Sent To Prison Amid Covid-19 Surge? Bombay HC Extends Time To Surrender


VV Rao, Feb 2021

Varavara Rao’s bail Extended due to Rising Covid Cases

07/01/2022

Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk

Varavara Rao is one of the accused in Bhima Koregaon case. Rao suffers from asymptomatic Parkinson’s disease, neurological ailments and severe abdomen pain, indicating evidence of umbilical hernia.
The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao’s bail till February 5. The octogenarian had been granted medical bail for six months on February 22 last year and was later allowed to extend it till January 7, 2022.
Read more

Can Varavara Rao Be Sent To Prison Amid Covid-19 Surge? Bombay HC Extends Time To Surrender Till February 5

07/01/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s time to surrender before prison authorities till February 5, while posting his application for extension of medical bail for further consideration on February 4.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NR Borkar expressed concern about the speed at which the third wave is spreading and inquired if Rao could be sent back to prison during this time.
Read more

Should we send Varavara Rao to prison in third wave? Bombay High Court to NIA

07/01/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Justice SS Shinde remarked that the COVID-19 infection rate during the third wave was spreading rapid and fast, and had infected some of the judges in the High Court.
While hearing a plea by Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao seeking extension of medical bail granted to him by the High Court in February 2021, the Bombay High Court enquired with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on whether the octogenarian poet ought to be sent to prison amidst the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more

Varavara Rao’s bail extended till Feb 5

07/01/2022

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Varavara Rao’s plea said the six-month period following his release from jail had ended on September 5 and that he continues to suffer from various ailments that require treatment.
The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao’s bail till February 5. The octogenarian had been granted medical bail for six months on February 22 last year and was later allowed to extend it till January 7, 2022.
Read more

NIA court allows Sudha Bharadwaj to stay in Thane

NIA court allows Sudha Bharadwaj to stay in Thane

NIA court allows Sudha Bharadwaj to stay in Thane

06/01/2022

Hindustan Times / by HT Correspondent

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday allowed activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s plea to stay in Thane while on bail in the Elgar Parishad case…
The NIA court on Thursday also directed the superintendent of Taloja prison to preserve CCTV footage and provide clone copies of DVR to human right activist Surendra Gadling, who has also been arrested in the Elgar Parishad Case.
Read more

Sudha Bharadwaj seeks NIA court`s permission to shift to Thane

31/12/2021

Sahu News / by News Desk

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who recently obtained bail in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, on Thursday sought permission from the special NIA court here to live in neighbouring in Thane instead of Mumbai. Bharadwaj was released from prison earlier this month after the Bombay High Court granted her bail.
The special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA), while passing the release order, had said that she shall not leave Mumbai without permission.
Read more

Also read:
● Sudha Bharadwaj To Be Released After NIA Court Sets Bail Conditions (The Wire / Dec 2021)
● Surendra Gadling Says Jail Authorities Denying Him Medicines (The Wire / Dec 2021)

Decide Gadling’s case in 15 days: HC to Gadchiroli court

Decide Gadling’s case in 15 days: HC to Gadchiroli court

The Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed city lawyer Surendra Gadling to approach Gadchiroli special court for seeking bail. He was arrested in an arson case in 2016, where suspected Maoists torched around 80 vehicles at the Surjagarh mining site in the district.
Read more

Also read:
● Statement from Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) (WSS / Jun 2018)

Justice Varale of Bombay HC recuses from hearing Varavara Rao’s plea for extension of medical bail

Justice Varale of Bombay HC recuses from hearing Varavara Rao’s plea for extension of medical bail

HC judge Prasanna Varale recuses from hearing plea filed by Varavara Rao in Bhima-Koregaon Violence Case

05/01/2022

Free Press Journal / by Narsi Benwal

However, when the matter was called out for hearing, Justice Varale said, “Not (to be listed) before me.”
Bombay High Court’s Justice Prasanna Varale on Tuesday recused himself from hearing the plea filed by Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao seeking to extend his medical bail. This isn’t the first time that the judge has refrained himself from hearing matters related to the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
Read more

Justice PB Varale of Bombay High Court recuses from hearing Varavara Rao plea

04/01/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Justice PB Varale of Bombay High Court on Tuesday recused himself from hearing the plea by Bhima Koregaon-accused Varavara Rao seeking extension of medical bail granted to him by the High Court in February 2021.
Read more

by Live Law (Jan 4)
Bench led by Justice PB Varale recuses from hearing Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad accused – Varavara Rao’s plea for extension of medical bail granted to him.
“It cannot be taken up by this court”
by Bar & Bench (Jan 4)
Justice Varale has previously also recused himself from hearing any matter pertaining to the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
The alternate Bench which will now hear the plea is the Bench headed by Justice SS Shinde as per the standing order of #BombayHighCourt.

Poet-activist Varavara Rao’s medical bail extended till Jan 7, Bombay HC grants time to file affidavit

21/12/2021

The Leaflet / by the Leaflet

Monday, December 20, the Bombay High Court allowed time to continue to examine Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case accused Dr. P.V. Varavara Rao’s request seeking extension of his medical bail. Rao, who was granted bail for six months on February 22, 2021, got an extension till January 7, 2022 and his counsel was allowed to file the affidavit by December 28.
Read more

Bombay HC Turns Down Plea By 8 Accused For Factual Corrections In Order Denying Bail

Bombay HC Turns Down Plea By 8 Accused For Factual Corrections In Order Denying Bail

Click to enlarge

Bombay High Court Turns Down Plea By 8 Bhima Koregaon Accused For Factual Corrections In Order Denying Bail

23/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Court cited the bar under Section 362 CrPC in reviewing the order.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused a request by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case for substantial factual corrections to the HC’s order denying them bail.
Through a precipice (application) for “speaking to minutes”, the accused claimed that just like Sudha Bharadwaj, who was granted bail, they had also filed their default bail pleas in the stipulated time.
Read more

Bombay HC refuses to entertain plea by 8 accused claiming „factual errors“ in default bail order

23/12/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The 8 accused had moved the High Court seeking a minor rectification in the order passed by the Division Bench refusing default bail to them.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to intervene in a plea by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case seeking a rectification of the ‘factual errors’ in the order refusing default bail to them.
Read more

HC disposes plea of eight accused seeking rectification in order denying them bail

23/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The activists and academicians had said that the Bombay High Court order was based on a ‘factual error’.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to intervene in a plea filed by eight accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case, seeking rectification in an order that refused them bail, Bar and Bench reported.
The Bhima Koregaon case pertains to caste violence in a village near Pune in January 2018. Eight activists and academicians are among the 16 people arrested for allegedly plotting the violence.
Read more

Eight Accused Approach HC, Say Denial of Default Bail Based on ‘Factual Error’

22/12/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Sudhir Dawale, Varavara Rao, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira have approached the high court claiming its order denying them default bail was based on a “factual error”.
Eight activists and academics currently in jail in the Elgar Parishad case, who were denied default bail by the Bombay high court earlier this month, have approached the high court on Tuesday, seeking a correction in the relevant order. They said that they had in fact exercised their right to default bail within the stipulated period …
The high court will hear the matter further on December 23.
Read more

Had Sought Default Bail Like Sudha Bharadwaj’: 8 Bhima-Koregaon Accused Approach Bombay HC Claiming ‘Factual Error’ In Judgment

21/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case denied default bail have re-approached the Bombay High Court claiming to have exercised their right to default bail well within the stipulated period.
It may be recalled that the High Court had granted default bail to lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the case, on the ground that the Pune Sessions Court was not competent to extend the time for probe as it was not notified as a Special Court under the NIA Act. However, the Court denied the same benefit to other accused by saying that they had not filed applications for default bail when that right accrued to them.
Read more

Poet-activist Varavara Rao’s medical bail extended till Jan 7, Bombay HC grants time to file affidavit

Poet-activist Varavara Rao’s medical bail extended till Jan 7, Bombay HC grants time to file affidavit

Poet-activist Varavara Rao’s medical bail extended till Jan 7, Bombay HC grants time to file affidavit

21/12/2021

The Leaflet / by the Leaflet

Monday, December 20, the Bombay High Court allowed time to continue to examine Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case accused Dr. P.V. Varavara Rao’s request seeking extension of his medical bail. Rao, who was granted bail for six months on February 22, 2021, got an extension till January 7, 2022 and his counsel was allowed to file the affidavit by December 28.
Read more

Poet Varavara Rao’s medical bail extended till January 7

20/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Bombay High Court allowed him to file an affidavit against a private hospital report suggesting that his health condition was ‘cognitively normal’.
The Bombay High Court on Monday extended the medical bail of poet Varavara Rao till January 7 in the Bhima Koregaon case, Live Law reported. At a previous hearing, the High Court had extended his bail till Monday.
Read more

Bombay HC Extends Varavara Rao’s Time To Surrender Till Jan 7, Permits Him To Respond To Medical Reports

20/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Monday extended Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s time to surrender before prison authorities till January 7, while posting his application for extension of medical bail for further consideration on January 4.
A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal also permitted Rao’s counsels to file an affidavit and respond to a private hospital’s reports concluding that his condition was normal as “he is able to perform activities of daily living.”
Read more

Bombay HC allows Varavara Rao to file affidavit after hospital declares his parameters’ normal

20/12/2021

Times of India / by Swati Deshpande

The Bombay high court on Monday allowed Elgar Parishad accused P Varavara Rao, 82, to file an additional affidavit response to a report submitted by Nanavati hospital for its analysis in his plea for extension of his medical bail. The private charitable hospital had last week submitted a report to say that Rao’s vital parameters were normal.
Read more

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay HC Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay HC Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

Judicial enquiry sought to clear Stan Swamy name

18/12/2021

The Times of India / by TOI

Five months after the death of Jesuit priest and Elgar Parishad case accused Father Stan Swamy in hospital while in in judicial custody, Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, as his ‘next of kin’ has petitioned the Bombay high court for a judicial enquiry into the death in custody and to remove the ‘odium of guilty’ attached to the deceased tribal rights activist and the shadow it “casts” on the Jesuits in India.
Read more

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay High Court Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

17/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, has approached the Bombay High Court to clear Father Stan Swamy’s name in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case. He has also sought for a court-monitored judicial inquiry into his custodial death.
Fr Stan founded Bagaicha, an organisation dedicated to empowering the Adivasi and Moolvasi communities in Jharkhand. He passed away on July 5, nine months after his arrest.
Read more

Arsenal Consultancy has no locus standi to give opinion in Shoma Sen’s plea, says NIA

Arsenal Consultancy has no locus standi to give opinion in Shoma Sen’s plea, says NIA

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

The digital forensic analyst said false evidence was planted against the retired professor to implicate her in the case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the Bombay High Court on Thursday that Arsenal Consultancy, a digital forensic analyst that said false evidence was planted against retired Prof. Shoma Sen who is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case, has “no locus standi to give opinion without court’s permission”.
Read more

Also read:
● Rona Wilson’s iPhone Infected With Pegasus Spyware, Says New Forensic Report (The Wire / Dec 2021)

Varavara Rao Medically Stable, Must Surrender: NIA Tells Bombay HC; Medical Report Summoned

Varavara Rao Medically Stable, Must Surrender: NIA Tells Bombay HC; Medical Report Summoned

Varavara Rao Medically Stable, Must Surrender: NIA Tells Bombay High Court; Complete Medical Report Summoned

17/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Friday urged the Bombay High Court to direct Telugu poet accused in Bhima Koregaon case, Varavara Rao (82), to surrender before the prison officials after a private hospital opined he is “cognitively normal.”
However, a division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal directed the private hospital to submit Rao’s complete medical examination reports and listed the matter for further consideration, on Monday.
Read more

Varavara Rao health normal, says medical report submitted by NIA to Bombay HC

17/12/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The National Investigation Agency on Friday submitted to the Bombay High Court a summary report of the medical examination of Bhima Koregaon-accused Varavara Rao, in his plea seeking extension of medical bail granted to him by the High Court on April 2021.
The summary stated that Rao was evaluated by multiple consultants and was suffering from minor symptoms like lack of sleep and exhaustion.
Read more

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj walks out of jail after over three years / Spontaneous Celebrations

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj walks out of jail after over three years / Spontaneous Celebrations


Pic: Sudha Bharadwaj, after being released

Chhattisgarh: People Gather after Sudha’s Release

09/12/2021

In Chhattisgarh, spontaneous celebrations as workers wait for “Sudha didi”

09/12/2021

Newslaundry / by Prateek Goyal

As news spread about the Supreme Court rejecting the NIA’s plea against the bail granted to activist Sudha Bharadwaj on Tuesday, a large group of workers, draped in yellow and gray uniforms, began celebrating at Burah Pandal opposite the ACC Limited cement factory in the industrial town of Bhilai. It was not the only spontaneous gathering of workers in Chhattisgarh to acknowledge the relief granted to their beloved Sudha “didi”.
Read more

Lawyer-Activist Sudha Bharadwaj Released After Over 3 Years In Jail

09/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Lawyer and well-known tribal rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj walked out of Byculla women’s prison today after over 1000 days of incarceration in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence Case.
Bharadwaj was arrested on August 28, 2018.
Read more

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj walks out of jail after over three years

09/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The NIA court has asked her to not make any statements to the media.
Lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was released from Mumbai’s Byculla women’s jail on Thursday, NDTV reported. Bharadwaj was arrested in August 2018, and was granted default bail by the Bombay High Court last week.
Read more

#SudhaBharadwaj (Dec 9)


By Prashant Bhushan:
+++ Welcome back Sudha Bharadwaj, the indefatigable crusader for human rights for the downtrodden, after spending over 3 years in jail on trumped up charges. One day,your tormentors will be held to account. Hope others similarly jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case are also released soon +++

By Jignesh Mevani:
+++ Where bail not jail is the rule, Sudha Bharadwaj had to spend three years in jail for her speech that has been alleged to cause voilence. We urge the courts for early release of all those you have been made political scapegoats of the highest order under draconian laws like UAPA +++

By Rana Ayyub:

By NAPM:
+++ NAPM salutes the determination of trade unionist & people’s lawyer #SudhaBharadwaj, as she walks free from jail after 3 yrs of arbitrary incarceration, amidst harsh bail conditions. It is high time all activists jailed in ‘Bhima Koregaon’ case are immediately released.#RepealUAPA +++

…

IAMC, HfHR welcome release of Sudha Bharadwaj

10/12/2021

TwoCircles.net / by IAMC and HfHR

Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group committed to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), an advocate for pluralism, civil and human rights in South Asia and North America, rooted in the values of the Hindu faith, have welcomed the release of renowned Indian human rights defender and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj on December 9 after being incarcerated for more than three years without trial.
Read more