Varavara Rao – Page 30 – free them all

Denying bail in Elgaar Parishad case to political prisoners is callous: PUCL

01/06/2020 Maya

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

‘In COVID-19 times, especially when Maharashtra has emerged as the State with the highest number of cases, differentially treating bail petitions by political prisoners is gross injustice’.
The denial of bail to all accused in the Elgaar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case was “patently callous”, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said on Monday, and urged that the health and safety of political prisoners be treated with the same urgency as other prisoners.
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PUDR: The Lessons of Bhima Koregaon Case: No Bail, Only Jail

01/06/2020

Kractivism / by PUDR

With the surrenders of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha on April 14, 2020 in Mumbai and Delhi respectively, the NIA, the investigative agency, has ensured the arrest of all 11 prominent human rights activists in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case under the draconian UAPA. The recent rejection of the bail applications of Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen and Sudha Bharadwaj, and the sudden transfer of Gautam Navlakha by the NIA, raise significant questions about the rights of political prisoners amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Former CICs call for release of Telugu poet & journalist P Varavara Rao [read letter]

31/05/2020 Maya

National Herald / by NH Web Desk.

Shailesh Gandhi and Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu have written a letter to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray calling for 80-year-old P Varavara Rao’s release, pointing out several grounds to do so.
Two former Central Information Commissioners, Shailesh Gandhi and Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu have written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray calling for the release of renowned Telugu poet, journalist and lecturer P Varavara Rao, who is in judicial custody for the last 18 months in Bhima Koregaon case for an alleged attempt to murder Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Varavara Rao tests negative for Covid, court seeks medical report

31/05/2020 Rani

VV Rao’s daughter Pavana and wife Hemalatha protest in Hyderabad on Friday

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

“He is stable as of now and is being evaluated. He had dizziness, which seems to have been a vertigo attack,” a senior hospital doctor said.
A special court has directed Mumbai’s JJ Hospital to submit a medical report on the health conditions of poet Varavara Rao, who was arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case.
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Revolutionary poet Varvara Rao admitted to Mumbai hospital

30/05/2020 Maya

VV Rao’s daughter Pavana and wife Hemalatha protest in Hyderabad on Friday

The New Indian Express / by IANS

Varavara Rao’s wife Hemalatha and daughter Pavana staged a three-hour-long protest at home, holding placards for release of the 80-year-old who was arrested in November 2018.
HYDERABAD: Revolutionary Telugu poet and writer Varavara Rao, who is in judicial custody in Maharashtra in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been admitted to JJ Hospital at Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
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Activist Varavara Rao admitted to hospital in Mumbai

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Taloja Jail authorities said Rao was being treated at the medical facility within the jail, but his condition did not improve for three days.
Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old Telugu poet and an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday, the Hindustan Times reported. Taloja Jail authorities said Rao was being treated at the medical facility within the jail over the last three days, but was shifted to hospital after his condition did not improve.
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Spl Court Rejects Interim Medical Bail Application Filed By Sudha Bharadwaj

29/05/2020 Maya

Live.law / by Nitish Kashyap

A Special court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the interim bail application filed on behalf of tribal rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj arrested in relation to the caste based violence that took place at Koregaon Bhima in Pune on January 1, 2018. The 58-year-old Bharadwaj is currently lodged in Byculla women’s jail where an inmate has already tested positive for Covid-19.
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MUMBAI COURT REJECTS BAL TO SUDHA BHARADWAJ

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

In her interim bail plea filed on medical grounds, Bharadwaj had said that she is at a high risk of contracting the virus in prison and in her present medical condition, it would be ‘life-threatening’.
A SPECIAL court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the interim bail application of activist Sudha Bharadwaj arrested in the Elgar Parishad case. Bharadwaj (58) is lodged in Byculla women’s jail where earlier this month an inmate had tested positive for Covid-19.
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Activist Varavara Rao admitted to hospital in Mumbai

29/05/2020 Maya

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The bail applications filed on medical grounds of Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen will be heard on June 2.

Scribes’ unions want Varavara Rao released on bail

28/05/2020 Maya

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Leaders of the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and Telangana State of Union of Working Journalists (TSUWJ) on Wednesday requested the Maharashtra government to consider releasing writer Varavara Rao on parole, keeping in mind his health condition and COVID-19 situation in the State.
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Appeal: Save our father Varavara Rao – Release him immediately from Taloja Jail

27/05/2020 Maya

Varavara Rao greeting family members, 2018 (Photo: DC)

South Asia Citizens Web / by P Sahaja, P Anala, P Pavana

To
The Governor, Maharashtra,
The Chief Justice, High Court of Maharashtra,
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra,
We, P Sahaja, P Anala, P Pavana, daughters of the famous revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, who is incarcerated in Maharashtra jails (in Yerawada, Pune jail till February 2020 and in Taloja, Navi Mumbai jail since then) in a fabricated case, are perturbed to see the news that a prisoner died in Taloja jail due to Covid-19, as admitted by the government in a PIL case in Mumbai High Court yesterday.
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CITING HEALTH, VARAVARA RAO’S DAUGHTERS URGE MAHARASHTRA CM UDDHAV THACKERAY FOR HIS PAROLE

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

Earlier, at least 40 prominent writers had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the release of Rao amid the crisis.
MUMBAI: Family members of poet, writer and activist Varavara Rao, jailed in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case, appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to release him on parole amid the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state and in its prisons.
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NIA opposes interim bail plea of Shoma Sen, Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj

23/05/2020 Rani

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah

The three accused have moved the special court separately for interim bail on the ground of the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in prison, and have expressed concerns about contracting SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA), which has been probing the Elgar Parishad case since January, has opposed the plea for interim bail filed by the accused activists Dr Shoma Sen, Vara Vara Rao, and Sudha Bhardwaj. … The next hearing will be held on May 28.
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GUIDELINES TO FREE INMATES ON TEMPORARY BAIL NOT APPLICABLE TO ACCUSED: NIA

23/05/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The high-powered committee, which was constituted to decongest jails in the state, has recommended the release of all undertrials with exceptions, including those facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Elgaar Parishad accused are booked under UAPA. It has, however, left it to such accused to file for interim bail to be considered on medical grounds or circumstances of the case by the courts.
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UN Bodies pass joint statement on Covid-19 in prisons and other closed settings

18/05/2020 Maya

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Leaflet / by Ujjaini Chatterji

The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes, the World Health Organization, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have taken note of the spread of Covid-19 in prisons and other closed settings. In this regard, they have issued a statement urging political leaders to undertake the necessary public health measures to counter and mitigate this threat.
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MAHARASHTRA RELEASES 7,200 PRISONERS TO CURB OVERCROWDING

17/05/2020

The New Indian Express / by PTI

In a bid to decongest state jails due to coronavirus outbreak, the state prisons department has so far released over 7,200 prisoners across the state on either temporary bail or parole.
PUNE: Authorities in Maharashtra have released over 7,200 prisoners so far to check overcrowding in jails amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday.
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INDIA DECONTESTS ITS JAILS TO CHECK CORONAVIRUS BUT POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE STILL LOCKED UP

14/05/2020

Quartz India / by Manavi Kapur

Overcrowded Indian prisons have become hotbeds of coronavirus cases.
In March, India’s supreme court recognised this risk—total occupancy of India’s jails standing at 115% —and set down guidelines for releasing some prisoners on parole and bail.
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