The Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 10, granted regular bail on medical grounds to the 83-year-old renowned poet and orator Varavara Rao in the Bhima Koregaon case. Varavara Rao, who was on interim bail on medical grounds till now, had challenged a Bombay High Court order rejecting his petition for permanent medical bail. According to LiveLaw, the Supreme Court bench took into account Varavara Rao’s age, his health condition, and the two-and-half years of time he spent in custody while granting him bail. The bench also reportedly noted that the charges are yet to be framed in the case and the trial is yet to begin.
The Supreme Court bench deleted the condition imposed by the Bombay High Court that Rao must surrender within three months and observed that his medical condition had not improved to such an extent that the bail granted earlier be withdrawn. Rao will not be allowed to leave Greater Mumbai without permission from the Special NIA court in Mumbai, and is not allowed to contact any witnesses in the case, the Supreme Court said.
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The Pune police had also claimed that the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links. The NIA later took over the probe into the matter.
In his plea filed against the April 13 order of the Bombay High Court, Rao had said, "The petitioner is an 83-year-old renowned Telugu poet and orator, who has undergone over two years of incarceration as an under-trial." The plea submitted that "any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination". It said Rao had challenged the High Court order as he was not granted an extension of bail despite his age and precarious health condition, and his prayer to shift to Hyderabad was also denied.
Rao was arrested on August 28, 2018, from his Hyderabad residence and is an undertrial in the case for which an FIR was lodged by Pune police on January 8, 2018, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Initially, Rao said he was put under house arrest following an order of the apex court. On November 17, 2018, he was taken into police custody and later shifted to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
With PTI inputs