The Quint / by Nikhila Henry
Telugu poet Varavara Rao suffers from umbilical hernia and cataract.
Since he was relieved on bail from Taloja Central Prison in February 2021, Varavara Rao (82), Telugu poet and activist, has been living in a rented house in Malad East, Mumbai with his 72-year-old wife, P Hemalatha.
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07/09/2021
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed the extension application filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao in the Bombay High Court which has also sought modification of his bail conditions to enable him to reside in Hyderabad.
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06/09/2021
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The 81-year-old activist sought extension of bail on medical grounds, but the NIA opposed it saying that his reports did not disclose a ‘major ailment’.
The Bombay High Court on Monday asked poet and activist Varavara Rao to surrender before the Taloja Jail authorities in Navi Mumbai on September 25, The Hindu reported. His bail ended on September 5.
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06/09/2021
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed 81-year-old PV Varavara Rao’s plea to extend his medical bail, saying that his reports don’t disclose a “major ailment” which necessitates the extension of bail or require him to reside at his home in Hyderabad.
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06/09/2021
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed that Rao, who is presently on medical bail, need not surrender till September 25, 2021 when the matter will be heard in detail.
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed that Bhima Koregaon accused Dr. Varavara Rao, who is presently on medical bail, need not surrender till September 25, 2021.
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Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The Special NIA Court has listed the pending applications on September 6, 2021
On July 5, 2021, 83-year-old activist and priest Father Stan Swamy passed away in a Mumbai private hospital while in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the riots that took place in Bhima Koregaon post the Elgar Parishad event held on January 2018.
His death highlighted the state of undertrials in the Bhima Koregaon case, most of whom have been awaiting trial for the past three years.
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03/09/2021
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
Of the 16 accused arrested in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case, Rao is the only one to be granted temporary bail.
Telugu poet PV Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence case has approached the Bombay High Court to extend his medical bail and for permission to reside at his home in Telangana.
In his petition, Rao has said he is still ailing and hasn’t flouted a single bail condition; therefore, he was deserving of the reliefs sought.
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03/09/2021
Hindustan Times / by KAY Dodhiya
Rao’s wife had approached the HC seeking medical bail for her 84-year-old husband who was kept at Taloja jail with other accused in the Elgar Parishad case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday assured the Bombay high court (HC) that they would not take coercive action against Elgar Parishad accused P Varavara Rao who was granted bail for a period of six months on February 22.
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02/09/2021
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved for orders a petition filed by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence case challenging cognisance of the charge sheet by a sessions judge in Pune and seeking default bail.
The accused have filed the appeal against the Sessions court’s order rejecting the default bail application under Section 167(2) of the Code of of Criminal Procedure read with Section 43-D (2) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
… The HC is likely to pronounce its judgement along a similar plea made co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj, on which order was reserved on August 4.
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01/09/2021
Hindustan Times / by KAY Dodhiya
The Bombay high court reserved its orders in the petition filed by the eight Elgar Parishad accused who challenged the cognizance taken by the sessions judge of the charge sheet filed by Pune Police in November 2018.
The counsel for the accused argued that as the sessions judge had passed orders and not the special NIA court or a magistrate court as stipulated by the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) under which the accused were booked, the orders passed by the sessions judge were not valid and they were eligible for default bail.
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01/09/2021
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The eight accused who have moved the Court are Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, P Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict in the plea filed by eight of sixteen accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case challenging the decision of the Pune Sessions Judge to take cognizance of chargesheet against them.
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Also read:
● 8 accused move Bombay HC; claim chargesheet filed in haste only to defeat their right of bail (Bar & Bench, Aug 23)
● Is Cognizance By Pune Sessions Court In Bhima Koregaon Case Void? Bombay High Court Reserves Judgment In Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail (Live Law, Aug 4)
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Plea challenging denial of bail being heard in Bombay HC
Saturday marks three years since trade unionist and human rights advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, columnist and activist Vernon Gonsalves, cartoonist and activist Arun Ferreira and poet and activist Varavara Rao were arrested by the Pune police some seven months after a mob attacked Dalits and Bahujans on January 1, 2018.
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by CIVICUS (Aug 28):
#India: Today marks exactly 3 years since human rights lawyer & activist Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested & subsequently detained under the anti-terror UAPA law on fabricated charges.
The state must #FreeSudhaBharadwaj immediately
http://web.civicus.org/Sudha | #StandAsMyWitness
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Plea before Bombay HC mentions adherence to all court directions despite multiple ailments
The 81-year-old poet Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case, has filed for an extension of his medical bail, which expires on September 5, before the Bombay High Court.
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24/08/2021
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
The lawyer for the accused submitted that as the orders of remand, authorising custody were ‘illegally’ passed by the sessions judge and the same could not be sustained, they may be released on default bail.
Eight accused in the Elgar Parishad case, while challenging the September 2019 order of the Pune Sessions court rejecting their default bail pleas, told the Bombay High Court that persons booked for scheduled offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) had to be produced before special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court and the sessions judge had no power to take cognisance of their pleas.
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23/08/2021
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The eight accused who have moved the Court are Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, P Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
Eight accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case have moved the Bombay High Court challenging the decision of the Pune Sessions Judge to take cognizance of chargesheet against them and to quash the criminal proceedings (Sudhir Dhawale & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.).
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Scroll.in / by Arun Ferreira
Although we received news by late evening on October 8, 2020, of Father Stan Swamy’s arrest, we were quite shocked to see him the next morning in the adjourning barrack conversing with inmates in his impeccable Hindi.
I was at that time lodged in a cell at the prison hospital with my co- accused Varavara Rao (or VV) and Vernon Gonsalves. It was part of our daily routine for VV and I to do a couple of rounds in his wheelchair before the morning breakfast. The three of us had assumed that the National Investigation Agency would want Stan’s custodial interrogation and hence it would not be until a couple of days before he would be sent to judicial custody i.e. Prison.
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By Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
On 11 June 2021, I wrote a letter jointly with two other UN experts on the alleged inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating condition of 15 human rights defenders, as well as Varavara Rao who was granted medical bail.
Of pressing concern was the inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating health of the human rights defenders. The death of Fr. Stan Swamy shortly after this communication was written demonstrate the severity of the conditions in which the human rights defenders are being held. It is haunting to now read how Fr. Swamy’s requests to be transferred to hospital to receive treatment were initially denied repeatedly.
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