Persecution – Page 88 – free them all

Varavara Rao released from hospital after Covid-19 treatment, sent back to jail

28/08/2020 Maya

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Rao’s family claimed they were not informed of his discharge on Thursday.
Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao was on Thursday discharged from Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai, after being treated for the coronavirus, and sent back to Taloja Jail, the Hindustan Times reported quoting South Region Prisons Inspector General Deepak Pandey.
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Varavara Rao discharged from Nanavati Hospital, returns to Taloja jail

27/08/2020

Hindustan Times / by Vijay Kumar Yadav

Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, 81, one of the accused arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Elgar Parishad case, was discharged from Nanavati Hospital on Thursday afternoon. Rao was admitted there on July 19 after he tested positive for Covid-19. He has been taken back to Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai, where he was earlier lodged.
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Sudha Bharadwaj developed heart ailment triggered by stress in jail

27/08/2020 Rani

The Indian Express / by Gargi Verma

Sudha Bharadwaj, one of the activists arrested and incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case, has developed a heart ailment, “clearly triggered by the stress” she is facing in jail, as she “never had any heart-related complaints before she was taken in custody” in October 2018, according to daughter Mayesha Bharadwaj.
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Sudha Bharadwaj developed heart ailment triggered by stress in jail, says family

27/08/2020

Sroll.in / by Scroll Staff

They have demanded ‘for an early, decisive hearing’ for her release and have also asked for full access to her medical history in prison.
The activist’s daughter, Maaysha Bharadwaj, cited a medical report from the jail dated July 23 in which it has been stated that her mother is suffering from “Ischemic Heart Disease, a heart problem caused by narrowing of arteries that causes reduced blood flow to the heart muscle and can lead to heart attack”. She added that her mother never had any heart-related complaints before she was jailed.
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NIA Summons Three Lawyers for Questioning

27/08/2020 Rani

Campaign poster, June 2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Among those summoned are Nihalsing Rathod, the defence lawyer for some of the accused in the case, and Viplav Teltumbde.
Mumbai: After questioning several academics and activists, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has now issued summons to three lawyers in the Elgar Parishad case. Among the three lawyers summoned to appear before the agency’s Mumbai office on August 28 are Nihalsing Rathod, Viplav Teltumbde and a Nagpur-based lawyer.
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Bombay HC to state: Provide medical reports of Bharadwaj, Teltumbde, Gonsalves

26/08/2020 Maya

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to provide copies of the latest medical reports of Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde and Vernon Gonsalves, accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, to their families, lawyers and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before the next hearing on August 28…
The next hearing of the case will be on Friday.
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Copy paste mistake with Teltumbde’s medical reports, say jail officials

26/08/2020 Maya

Mumbai Mirror / by Mumbai Mirror

Prison officials submitted a “corrected” medical report of Dr Anand Teltumbde, in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, 21 days after it was found that vitals in his document were identical to co-accused Mahesh Raut’s report. The two have a 37-year age gap.
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Friends & family of Sudha Bharadwaj raise serious health concerns and seek her release

25/08/2020 Rani

Solidarity programs with Sudha Bharadwaj (click to enlarge)

Countercurrents / by friends and family of Sudha Bharadwaj

Keeping under trials in prison for two years deliberately stalling bail opportunities, with no effort for beginning the trial instead exposing them to serious health condition is a gross violation of rights of prisoners. This is further heightened in times of a global pandemic given the crowded situation in prisons…
Friends and family members of Sudha Bharadwaj gathered online Sunday to share series of serious concern over Sudha Bharadwaj’s health condition.
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What We Can Learn from Varavara Rao’s Prison Diary

22/08/2020 Rani

News Click / by Shoili Kanungo

When all relations are defined by oppression and subjugation, and human relationships vanish, the oppressor fears the future.
… Captive Imagination is Varavara Rao´s prison journal from the 1980´s. It is a manual of life infused with love, longing, and the power of dreams and imagination – which he says are the limbs that support every prisoner and cannot be taken away.
Read and see

Varavara Rao’s neurological status unstable: Medical report

22/08/2020 Rani

Hindustan Times / by K A Y Dodhia

The report further states that depending on Rao’s condition and as per hospital protocols, they would permit Rao’s family to speak to him over video call.
The Bombay high court (HC) has highlighted that a part of the medical report of Telegu poet P Varavara Rao from Nanavati Hospital, where he was admitted for treatment Covid-19 and other comorbidities, has stated that though Rao’s electrolyte levels have normalised, his neurological status is unstable as he is still disoriented in his talks.
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NHRC to get Maharashtra govt’s health report on Varavara Rao examined by expert panel

21/08/2020

Deccan Herald / by Shemin Joy, DHNS

The National Human Rights (NHRC) on Friday decided to refer the medical report of jailed poet-activist Varavara Rao, who is admitted to a Mumbai hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, submitted by the Maharashtra government to its own expert panel.
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HC Directs Hospital To Allow Varavara Rao’s Family To Talk To Him, Seeks Fresh Medical Report Of Sudha Bharadwaj

18/08/2020 Maya

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Nanavati hospital authorities to again allow Varavara Rao’s family to interact with him via video call after the family expressed anxiety for not receiving any updates on his health by hospital authorities…
Thereafter, Sudha Bharadwaj’s appeal against rejection of bail came up before the same bench.
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A Month on, Varavara Rao’s Family Says ‘No Update on COVID Status’

18/08/2020

The Quint / by Asmita Nandy

After a video call, Varavara Rao’s family said his health was improving but he remained physically weak.
Jailed poet and activist Varavara Rao’s family said the 80-year-old, who was admitted to Mumbai’s Nanavati hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 on 16 July, continued to remain physically weak.
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High Court: Let Varavara Rao make video calls to his family

18/08/2020

Hindustan Times / by K A Y Dohiya

The Bombay high court (HC) on Monday directed the state to allow activist and poet P Varavara Rao contact his family using video calls, while following hospital protocol. HC also directed court officials to provide Rao’s family and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) copies of Rao’s medical report, which was submitted to the court last week. The next hearing will be held after two weeks …
In another hearing for an appeal filed by lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, advocate Ragini Ahuja appealed against a special court’s decision to deny Bharadwaj interim bail … The court has also sought Bharadwaj’s latest medical report. The matter will be heard after two weeks.
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Prisons become breeding grounds for the coronavirus

18/08/2020 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Frontline / by Divya Trivedi

Overcrowded prisons across India have become fertile breeding grounds for the coronavirus.
As early as May, the International Legal Foundation, which has two decades of experience in protecting detainees impacted by infectious diseases, warned that it was not a question of if, but when, COVID-19 would overwhelm incarceration facilities.
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