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?
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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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The Wire / by Indradeep Bhattacharyya
A deep commitment to revolutionary humanism runs through Rao’s literary oeuvre – one that successive governments have relentlessly tried to muzzle.
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NDTV / Sreenivasan Jain asks
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”
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en 2:48 min
Suchitra Vijayan, Founder and Executive Director, The Polis Project: “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is just”
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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’”
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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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++++ 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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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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The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Hearing of the interim medical bail plea filed by Bhima-Koregaon case accused Sudha Bharadwaj was adjourned in the Bombay High Court on Monday after the court found the medical report submitted by the Byculla jail superintendent to be illegible.
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National Herald / by PTI
A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and S P Tavade asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the state to inform the court about Rao’s health condition and clarify by July 22 whether his family members could be permitted to see him.
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The Indian Express / by Express News Service
The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notices to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government and sought their responses on the plea filed by Varavara Rao’s co-inmates, who sought that they should be tested for Covid-19 too as they were in close contact with Rao at Taloja Central prison … The Court issued notices to NIA and state government and posted further hearing on Thursday, July 23.
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Hindustan Times / by Manish K Pathak
Poet and Elgar Parishad case accused P Varavara Rao, who had on Thursday tested positive for Covid-19 after he was shifted out of jail to a hospital, was moved to Nanavati Hospital from St George’s Hospital on early Sunday.
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en | 2:08 min | 2020
Indian Cultural Forum / Newsclick / by ICF TEAM
Young poets — Sabika Abbas Naqvi, Naveen Chourey, Aseem Sundan, Kaushik Raj, Poojan Sahil, Mandvi Mishra and Hussain Haidry — have come together in solidarity with renowned poet Varavara Rao. Condemning the State’s blatant and callous disregard for the health of Varavara Rao, they demand immediate release of the poet.
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Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap
Vernon Gonsalves and Anand Teltumbde, both accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and lodged at Taloja jail, have filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court on Friday seeking directions to the State to be tested for Covid-19 as they came in close contact with co-accused Varavara Rao who was admitted to the Hospital after testing positive for the virus.
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17/07/2020
Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia
The jailed activists move Bombay High Court saying they were in close contact with poet Varavara Rao who recently tested positive.
In wake of 79-year-old activist poet Varavara Rao testing positive for Covid-19, two of his fellow inmates from Taloja Central Prison; activists Vernon Gonsalves and Anand Teltumbde have now moved Bombay High Court requesting that they too be tested as they were in close proximity of Rao.
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+++ Update July 17 by The Real Anand Teltumbde: Mr. VV Raos case though listed today could not be heard due to lack of time. This now moves to Monday +++
N Venugopal, Mr. VV Rao’s nephew writes:
