Telugu poet Varvara Rao had challenged the Bombay High Court order rejecting his petition for permanent medical bail.
The Supreme Court bench in its order clarified that the bail granted to Varvara Rao is solely on medical grounds. (Varvara Rao/Facebook)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 10 August, granted regular bail to 83-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao in the Bhima-Koergaon Case, around four years after he was arrested and put in jail.
Rao was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) for his alleged involvement in the Bhim-Koregaon case. He was arrested from his Hyderabad residence on 28 August, 2018.
Rao, on interim bail on medical grounds, had challenged the Bombay High Court order rejecting his petition for permanent medical bail.
Ruling on a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Rao, Justices UU Lalit, Sudhanshu Dhulia, and Aniruddha Bose passed the order considering Rao’s medical condition: He is suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
The Supreme Court also set aside the Bombay High Court condition for Rao to surrender before the court after three months.
The Supreme Court bench in its order clarified that the bail granted to Rao was solely on medical grounds and should not be taken as a reflection on the merits of the case.
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on 31 December 2017, which the police claimed led to violence the next day.
One person died and several others were injured in the violence.
The Pune Police also claimed that the event was organised by activists having links with the outlawed CPI(Maoist) outfit.
The police arrested Varavara Rao, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, and Father Stan Swamy in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima case.
Swamy, a Jesuit priest and a tribal-rights activist, died on 5 July last year, while still in police custody.
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