The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued formal notice to the NIA on Bhima Koregaon violence accused and 81-year-old poet Vara Vara Rao as it extended the interim bail granted to him on medical grounds “till further orders” and posted the matter for final disposal on August 10.
A three-judge bench of Justice U.U. Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia indicated that on the next date of hearing it would finally dispose off the regular bail plea of Rao after hearing the views of the NIA in the matter.
“Considering the nature of controversy involved…the matter shall be disposed off on the next occasion. Since we had not issued notice earlier, issue notice returnable on August 10, 2022. Interim protection granted to the petitioner earlier on medical grounds extended till further orders,” the bench said.
Rao has filed the present special leave petition for regular bail, citing multiple health complications and recalling the horrific case of 83-year- old Father Stan Swamy, another accused who ironically died on the day his bail application was to be heard.
On July 12, the court had extended "till further orders" the interim bail granted by Bombay High Court to Rao since the earlier interim bail granted by the high court in April this year was to end on that day.
“… any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination,” Rao’s bail plea stated while arguing that due to his prolonged incarceration “there is every likelihood that he would not survive.”
A native of Hyderabad, Vara Vara is known for his revolutionary writings and is presently out on interim bail granted by Bombay High Court on medical grounds, which had, however, on April 13, turned down his plea for regular bail on the ground that he was only suffering from cataract problems and the medical facilities at the Taloja Central Jail, Maharashtra had adequate facilities to take care of his medical condition.
Aggrieved by the high court order, Rao has filed the present special leave petition.
Prior to the grant of his interim bail on medical grounds, Rao has been incarcerated in the Taloja jail since August 24, 2018, following his arrest along with several other activists for the December 31, 2017, Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad-related violence and alleged links with proscribed Maoists.
Father Stan Swamy, a renowned tribal activist and Jesuit priest who was also arrested in the same case and incarcerated in the Taloja Central Jail had on July 5, last year passed away at a private hospital, the day on which his bail application was to be heard by the Bombay High Court-an incident that caused massive outrage among the civil society.
Rao has cited multiple health complications like Parkinson, piles, prostrate enlargement, coronary artery disease, oedema/anasarca, vertigo, hypertension with prostatic hypertrophy, brain atrophy with brain ischemia, cerebral cortical atrophy, migraine and sinusitis, besides recurrent urinary tract Infection (UTI) in support of his bail plea and apprehensions that he would face the same fate of Fr Stan Swamy, if not granted regular bail.
Earlier the Bombay High Court while extending his interim bail by three months in April this year (initially granted on February 22 this year) had rejected his regular bail plea on the ground that his health conditions did not warrant a grant of regular bail.
