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Varavara Rao’s Family Asks NHRC to Intervene

Varavara Rao’s Family Asks NHRC to Intervene

The NIA Is Using The Pandemic to Punish My Father: Pendyala Pavana

25/07/2020

By Amnesty India

Varavara Rao’s daughter, Pendyala Pavana tells Amnesty International India that the National Investigative Agency is being vindictive and cruel to her father.
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Varavara Rao’s Family Asks NHRC to Intervene

24/07/2020

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

24/07/2020

Other than a confirmation about his positive COVID-19 test, Rao’s family says in the letter, they have received no information whatsoever about his health.
New Delhi: Unable to access information about Varavara Rao’s health from hospital authorities, his family has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Rao, who tested positive for COVID-19 and has several co-morbidities, is currently at Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital.
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Authorities Still Keeping Us In The Dark About His Condition & Treatment’: Varvara Rao’s Family

24/07/2020

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

The family of jailed Telugu poet and literary critic Varavara Rao, who recently tested positive for Covid-19 and is currently undergoing treatment at Nanavati Hospital, have written to the National Human Rights Commission seeking their urgent intervention and directions to hospital and jail authorities to provide regular official health updates to them.
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We must protest both Vikas Dubey murder, risking of VV Rao’s life

We must protest both Vikas Dubey murder, risking of VV Rao’s life


Solidarty poster, July 2020

The Indian Express / by Satish Deshpande

The fact that Dubey was yet to be charged under any law while Rao has been charged under a special law should not blind us to the essential similarity they share — the state took unfair advantage of its custodial power over them. But the real danger such cases pose is that they always carry in their background the suggestion of popular support, which sometimes ripens into an explicit claim.
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Jail Authorities Submit Sudha Bharadwaj´s Medical Report

Jail Authorities Submit Sudha Bharadwaj´s Medical Report

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

In a fresh medical report submitted before the Bombay High Court on Thursday by the jail authorities at Byculla District Jail, it has been submitted that advocate and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who is seeking bail on medical grounds, is suffering from ischemic disease which leads to reduced supply of blood in the body.
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Varavara Rao Bail Plea: COVID No Excuse for Political Prisoners?

Varavara Rao Bail Plea: COVID No Excuse for Political Prisoners?


+++ Matters concerning Mr. VV Rao’s interim bail appeal, Dr. Anand’s and Vernon’s Covid 19 test did not reach hearing in the Bombay HC today. Next date could be July 28 +++

The Quint / by Shorbori Purkayastha

Podcast: Is it ethical for Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao to be refused interim bail in this pandemic?
Should we be looking at heath conditions or the gravity of offense for prisoners seeking interim bail on health grounds in view of the pandemic?
Read more / Listen to podcast

Writers, artists urge CJI Bobde and Uddhav Thackeray to release jailed poet Varavara Rao

Writers, artists urge CJI Bobde and Uddhav Thackeray to release jailed poet Varavara Rao


Solidarity poster

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Hyderabad: As many as 520 Telugu poets, writers and artists on Wednesday urged Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde, Chief Justice of the Maharashtra High Court Dipankar Datta and the State’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ensure the release of jailed revolutionary poet Varavara Rao and Delhi University professor GN Saibaba.
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NDTV Reality Check: Despite COVID no Bail for Activists

NDTV Reality Check: Despite COVID no Bail for Activists

NDTV / Sreenivasan Jain asks

Videos

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”
Watch video

en 2:48 min
Suchitra Vijayan, Founder and Executive Director, The Polis Project: “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is just”
Watch video

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’”
Watch video

NIA terms medical condition plea by Varavara Rao a ‘ruse’ for interim bail

NIA terms medical condition plea by Varavara Rao a ‘ruse’ for interim bail

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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NIA Opposes Varavara Rao’s Bail, Says He Is Taking ‘Undue Benefit’ of COVID-19

NIA Opposes Varavara Rao’s Bail, Says He Is Taking ‘Undue Benefit’ of COVID-19


++++ 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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Varavara Rao Taking Undue Advantage Of COVID-19 To Seek Bail: NIA Tells Bombay HC

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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Prison Dispatches from Anand Teltumbde

Prison Dispatches from Anand Teltumbde

By The Real Anand Teltumbde

Click to enlarge

 

Anand Teltumbde: Cards and letters for jailed India scholar as he turns 70

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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