Varavara Rao – Page 2 – free them all

Bhima Koregaon Accused (BK16) | 1 Dead, 1 on House Arrest, 3 on Bail: What of the Rest?

30/11/2022 Asha

The Quint / by Rohini Roy

The remaining 11 continue to languish in jail — Who are they and what is the status of the case against them?
Anti-caste writer Anand Teltumbde, who walked out of jail on Saturday, 26 November, after he was granted bail on merits in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case said:
“I am definitely happy. It has been 30 months that I have been in prison. The sad part, however, is that we had to spend time in jail after being booked in a fake case.”
In the same case, two others, poet Varavara Rao and lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj – were granted bail earlier due to different reasons, while academic Gautam Navlakha was allowed house arrest on health grounds by a 19 November Supreme Court order.
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Also read:
● As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)

Prisoners of conscience / Court directs top cop to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison

16/11/2022 Asha

Prisoners of conscience

16/11/22

Deccan Herald / by Jyoti Punwani

Is it just their relentless opposition to State policies that gets the NIA’s goat, or is it also their privileged background?
Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. Sometimes they do, even for the most creative minds.
Take Maharashtra’s Taloja Jail, on the outskirts of Mumbai. For the last almost three years, it’s been home to some of the country’s most valuable public intellectuals, and also the site of their steady deterioration. The Bhima Koregaon trial is yet to begin, but the 16 accused have already been punished, by the NIA that’s handling their case and the jail authorities.
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Court directs top cop to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison

16/11/22

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

In his plea made on Tuesday, he said that there is no reply from the jail’s superintendent despite the court’s direction to the authority to file one.
Following an application by civil rights activist and accused in Bhima-Koregaon case, Anand Teltumbde, on Tuesday, a special court has directed the Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG, Prisons) to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison as the jail superintendent has not complied with previous orders to take precautions to control the situation despite repeated directions.
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Also read:
● Two more accused move court seeking mosquito nets (Hindustan Times / Sep 2022)
● Gautam Navlakha approaches court again seeking mosquito net (Scroll.in / Sep 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon accused calls off hunger strike (The Hindu / May 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)
● by PantherAjay (May 27, 2022):
Jailed Shahir Sagar Gorkhe is not the only under trail prisoner who has been continually harassed and whose ‘Machchhardani’ stolen by the insolent jail administration. This is an attempt to condemn the unlawful treatment meted against the under trial prisoners and to safeguard their rights. Following is the account of a similar incident that was faced by another imprisoned writer and poet Ramesh Gaichor translated from the original written in Marathi.

As activist Gautam Navlakha is allowed house arrest, what does this actually involve?

11/11/2022 Asha

Explainer: As activist Gautam Navlakha is allowed house arrest, what does this actually involve?

11/11/2022

Scroll.in / by Umang Poddar

When allowing him to leave Taloja jail for house detention, the Supreme Court on Thursday listed stringent conditions he would have to follow.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who has been in Taloja jail since April 2020 in the Bhima Koregaon case, to be placed under house arrest for a month. The activist, who is 70 years old, said that he was suffering from various health ailments and had asked to be shifted out of jail.
While ordering house arrests, courts have the power to impose conditions as they deem fit, so that the trial is not hampered. In a 2021 case, the Supreme Court ruled that house arrests can also be used as a form of detention.
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Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon accused struggle to find house in city

11/11/2022

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah and Gautam S Mengle

Getting a house in and around the city has been a challenge – both due to financial reasons as well as the fact that they were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and charged under sections of the UAPA for alleged Naxalite links
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon violence case accused Gautam Navlakha for a month’s house arrest on account of his old age and ill health.
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Varavara Rao: The Conscience of Our Time / Red roses to the People’s Poet

04/11/2022 Asha

Varavara Rao: The Conscience of Our Time

03/11/2022

Countercurrennts / by Moumita Alam

Two districts of Gujarat have begun to grant citizenship to minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians) from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. More than hundreds drowned in Morbi, Gujarat in the moribund madness we call celebration. We are at the pedestal in the Global Hunger Index. Everyday capitalism is devouring our air, water, and land. And the big giant 56 is roaring at the Naxals both with a gun and pen. He consciously or unconsciously acknowledges that the pen has the same power as the gun!
It’s this fear that has put brilliant minds behind bars. But are we not also within bars too? Invisible wires have enslaved us.
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Red roses to the People’s Poet. The fight is on!

03/11/2022

By Release The Poet

en | 1:42min | 2022
Listen to the poem

Also read:
● Can’t Allow Varavara Rao To Stay In Hyderabad For Three Months For Cataract Treatment, Will Delay Framing of Charges: NIA Court (Live Law / Sep 2022)
● Supreme Court directs trial court to expeditiously frame charges and decide discharge pleas (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)

Day to day hearing of discharge applications in Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case begins

27/09/2022 Asha

Day to day hearing of discharge applications in Elgar Parishad case begins

28/09/2022

India Today / by Vidya

A special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai began a day-to-day hearing of four discharge applications filed by the Elgar Parishad.
Highlights
▪ Mumbai’s special National Investigation Agency court began a day-to-day hearing in Elgar Parishad case
▪ The court to hear four discharge applications filed by the accused
▪ Three more discharge applications were filed on Tuesday
… Procedurally, courts hear the discharge applications, and if it finds no material against the accused in the charge sheet filed by the investigators, it discharges the accused.
However, if the court finds substantial evidence, the discharge plea gets rejected, and a full-fledged trial ensues.
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Bhima Koregaon case trial process begins over four years after case was registered

28/09/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

An NIA court started hearing a discharge plea filed by Sudhir Dhawale, one of the accused persons.
A Mumbai court on Tuesday started hearing the first of the seven discharge applications filed by accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case, Bar and Bench reported. The hearing marks the beginning of the trial process in the case four years after it was filed in 2018.
The development came after the Supreme Court, on August 19, ordered a National Investigation Agency court to decide on framing charges against the accused persons within three months.
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Mumbai Court begins hearing discharge applications of accused

28/09/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The Court also rejected an application filed by octogenarian P Varavara Rao seeking permission to live in Hyderabad for 3 months in order to conduct cataract surgery.
A Mumbai court on Tuesday began hearing the first of the seven discharge applications filed by the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
The hearing on discharge is the first step towards framing of charges, thus, kick-starting the trial in the case which has been pending in the pre-trial stage since 2018.
This development comes in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in August asking the special court to decide on framing of charges within 3 months.
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Three more accused, including activist Navlakha, seek discharge in Elgar case

27/09/2022

The New Indian Express / by pti

While Navlakha and Babu are currently in jail under judicial custody, Bharadwaj is out on bail.
Activists Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj and Delhi University professor Hany Babu, all accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, on Tuesday moved discharge applications before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here …
Meanwhile, the court on Tuesday heard the arguments on the discharge plea of another accused, Sudhir Dhawale. The arguments will continue on Wednesday …
The discharge pleas of some other accused – Jyoti Jagtap, Anand Teltumbde and Mahesh Raut – were also pending before the court.
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Special NIA court rejects Varavara Rao’s plea to go home, says it has to frame charges in case

26/09/2022 Asha

Allowing Varavara Rao to travel will delay framing of charges, says NIA court

27/09/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The 83-year-old activist had told the judge that he has cataracts in both eyes and the condition requires surgery.
Framing of charges in the Elgar Parishad case will get delayed if Varavara Rao is allowed to travel to Hyderabad for cataract surgery, a National Investigation Agency court has said while denying permission to the activist, Live Law reported.
Rao was denied permission to travel by the court on Friday. A detailed order was made available on Monday.
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Can’t Allow Varavara Rao To Stay In Hyderabad For Three Months For Cataract Treatment, Will Delay Framing of Charges: NIA Court

26/09/2022

Live Law / by Live Law News Network

Observing that framing of charges in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad caste violence case will get delayed, the Special Court last week rejected poet-accused Varavara Rao’s application to undergo cataract treatment in Hyderabad.
Special Judge Rajesh Katariya cited the recent SC judgement granting Rao bail in which it was said that a decision on framing of charges must be taken within three months.
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Special NIA court rejects Varavara Rao’s plea to go home, says it has to frame charges in Elgar Parishad case

26/09/2022

India Toda / by Vidya

The NIA opposed the application, saying the treatment sought by Rao was available in Mumbai and that he was only seeking to nullify the SC’s terms for granting him medical bail.
A special NIA court in Mumbai has rejected the request of Telugu poet and Elgar Parishad accused Varavara Rao to go to Hyderabad for three months to undergo cataract surgery. The court said it had to frame charges against the accused within the next three months and so rejected the request.
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Also read:
● Supreme Court directs trial court to expeditiously frame charges and decide discharge pleas (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)

Court rejects Varavara Rao’s plea for short stay in Hyderabad for cataract surgery

23/09/2022 Asha

Court rejects Varavara Rao’s plea for short stay in Hyderabad for cataract surgery

24/09/2022

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah

The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday rejected the plea of Telugu poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon violence case, seeking permission for a short stay in Hyderabad for undergoing cataract surgery.
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Court Rejects Varavara Rao’s Plea To Go To Hyderabad For Eye Surgery

23/09/2022

Outlook India / by pti

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the plea of poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, seeking permission to travel to Hyderabad for cataract surgery.
The Supreme Court had, in August, granted medical bail to the 82-year-old activist, with his bail conditions being set by the special NIA court presiding over the case.
Read more

Also read:
● Varavara Rao told to remain in Mumbai, not to make statement on case to media (The Indian Express / Aug 2022)
● Supreme Court grants permanent medical bail to P. Varavara Rao in Bhima Koregaon case (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)

Vernon Gonsalves Is Latest Victim of Prison Staff’s Medical Neglect

08/09/2022 Asha

NIA court demands explanation from Taloja authorities on delay of treatment

09/09/2022

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah

Only on September 5 Gonsalves was shifted to prison hospital as his condition had worsened.
The special NIA court on Thursday directed the superintendent of the Taloja Jail to provide proper medical treatment to Vernon Gonsalves, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, who has been diagnosed with dengue.
It has also reprimanded the prison authority for failing to respond to Gonsalves’s plea for medical treatment till Thursday.
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Vernon Gonsalves Is Latest Victim of Prison Staff’s Medical Neglect

08/09/2022

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

JJ Hospital has confirmed that Gonsalves has been suffering from dengue for close to two weeks and that he could have developed pneumonia too.
Over 10 days ago, Vernon Gonsalves, a Mumbai-based human rights activist and one of the 16 persons arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, had a high-grade fever. He fainted several times in jail and at one point couldn’t move. The Taloja central prison staff, however, only administered him paracetamol and refused to refer him to a hospital.
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Vernon Gonsalves on oxygen support after contracting dengue in prison

08/09/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

His wife, lawyer Susan Abraham, told Scroll.in that the 65-year-old undertrial should have been admitted to hospital ‘long back’.
Activist Vernon Gonsalves, who is among those accused in the Elgar Parishad case, is on oxygen support in Mumbai’s JJ Hospital after contracting dengue in prison, his wife, lawyer Susan Abraham, told Scroll.in on Thursday.
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Pandu Narote’s Death: A Reminder of Stan Swamy’s Demise, GN Saibaba’s Struggles

08/09/2022

The Quint / by Mekhala Saran

When Pandu Narote died on 25 August, once again questions arose regarding the treatment of ailing inmates.
In February 2020, granting bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao, on medical grounds, the Bombay High Court had noted that “sending him back to prison is fraught with risk.”
… In May, 2021, while the second wave of COVID-19 wreaked devastation across the country, the family and friends of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, who have been lodged in Mumbai’s Taloja and Byculla jail, held a press conference drawing attention to the purportedly dangerous living conditions there. These included overcrowding, the lack of medical care, paucity of clean water, and flimsy access to basic human rights.
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► Also read/listen: Bhima Koregaon, COVID-19 And Custodial Apathy In Jails / Audio + Press Release (May 2021)
► Also read: Crowded Jails & COVID: 16 Bhima Koregaon Accused’s Kin Share Fears (The Quint / May 2021)

Varavara Rao Will Not Make Media Statements On Bhima Koregaon Case: NIA Court Sets Bail Conditions

20/08/2022 Asha

Varavara Rao told to remain in Mumbai, not to make statement on case to media

21/08/2022

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Among the bail conditions set for Varavara Rao include that he shall reside within Greater Mumbai and shall furnish a detailed address of his residence.
Days after the Supreme Court granted bail to Telugu poet and activist P Varavara Rao, who was booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, the special court in Mumbai set conditions for his bail, including that he shall not make any statement with regard to the matter in the media.
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Varavara Rao Will Not Make Media Statements On Bhima Koregaon Case: NIA Court Sets Bail Conditions

20/08/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

A special NIA court in Mumbai set 12 bail conditions for Telugu poet Dr P Varavara Rao accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, including a restriction on talking about the case at any media forum…
On August 10, the Supreme Court granted bail to Rao on medical grounds, and had imposed a condition that he should should not leave the Greater Mumbai region without the permission of the trial court.
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‘No statement on case to media’: Special court sets conditions for Varavara Rao’s bail

20/08/2022

The Indian Express / by Express News Updates

Among the bail conditions set for Varavara Rao include that he shall reside within Greater Mumbai and shall furnish a detailed address of his residence.
Days after the Supreme Court granted bail to Telugu poet and activist P Varavara Rao who was booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, the special court in Mumbai set conditions for his bail, including that he shall not make any statement with regard to the matter in the media.
Read more

Also read:
● ‘First Step Towards Acquittal’: Varavara Rao’s Family on Bail by Supreme Court (The Quint / Aug 2022)
● Supreme Court grants permanent medical bail to P. Varavara Rao in Bhima Koregaon case (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)

Of 16 Arrested Accused in Elgar Parishad Case, One Dead, Two Out on Bail and Rest in Jail

19/08/2022 Asha

Of 16 Arrested Accused in Elgar Parishad Case, One Dead, Two Out on Bail and Rest in Jail

19/08/2022

The Wire / by pti

With the Supreme Court stipulating that charges in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case be framed within the next three months, the focus has shifted now to the status of the accused.
With the Supreme Court stipulating that charges in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case be framed within the next three months, the focus has shifted now to the status of the accused.
In the case that is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), of the total 16 arrested accused, Jesuit priest Stan Swamy died at a private hospital here last year during judicial custody, while Telugu poet Varavara Rao is currently out on medical bail. Only one accused – Sudha Bharadwaj – is out on regular bail.
Read more

Also read:
● Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns (The Leaflet / June 2022)