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Bhima Koregaon case: SC extends activist Varavara Rao's interim bail
Telugu poet and activist Dr P Varavara Rao had challenged the April 13 order of Bombay high court rejecting his plea for permanent medical bail in the matter.
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to activist and poet Dr P Varavara Rao, an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case who had sought permanent bail on medical grounds. The court has posted the matter for July 19.
Rao had challenged the April 13 order of Bombay high court rejecting his plea for permanent medical bail in the matter. The court, however, had given Rao three-months time to surrender before the Taloja prison authorities to enable him to undergo cataract surgery.
In his plea filed against the high court order, Rao has 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, and is currently enlarged on bail on medical grounds by the Bombay High Court respectfully submits that any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as an advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination".
Arrested on August 28, 2018 from his Hyderabad residence, the Telugu poet is an under-trial in the Bhima Koregaon case for which an FIR was lodged in January 2018 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
He was initially kept under house arrest pursuant to an order from the Supreme Court and was taken into police custody in November 2018. He was later shifted to the Taloja jail.
In February 2021, the Bombay High Court granted him bail on medical grounds and was subsequently released from jail on March 6, 2021.
