82-Year-Old Varavara Rao Moves Supreme Court for Bail in Bhima Koregaon Case

The matter has been listed for 11 July, after Rao’s plea was mentioned by his counsel before a vacation bench.

Varavara Rao is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

82-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, approached the Supreme Court seeking permanent bail on medical grounds on Thursday, 30 June.

The matter has been listed for 11 July, after Rao’s plea was mentioned by his counsel, senior advocate Anand Grover before a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, reported Bar and Bench.

According to Live Law, Rao’s special leave petition says that any further incarceration would "ring the death knell" owing to his advancing age and deteriorating health.

Previously in April, a Bombay High Court bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap had rejected Rao’s plea for bail, and also dismissed his application seeking permission to stay in Telangana during the course of the trial.

However, the High Court had extended his temporary bail by three months.

Further in May, the Bombay High Court had rejected Rao’s plea, filed along with Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, seeking review of the High Court's December 2021 judgment in which it had refused default bail.

More About Varavara Rao

Rao was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, or UAPA, in 2018. He was first taken to Pune's Yerwada prison and later shifted to Taloja. At Yerwada, he was reportedly denied a blanket during winter. The jail authorities also refused to provide him a wheelchair, even though he was unable to walk. His family had to approach Bombay High Court to get him access to both. When Rao was shifted to Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital in May 2020, he had lost 20 kilos, his family claimed.

He was finally relieved on medical bail from Taloja Central Prison in February 2021.

(With inputs from Bar and Bench and LiveLaw.)