Elgar Parishad case: Test us for Covid-19, say Gonsalves, Teltumbde

Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Dr Anand Teltumbde, who are currently lodged in Taloja jail in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, moved a petition in the Bombay

Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Dr Anand Teltumbde, who are currently lodged in Taloja jail in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, moved a petition in the Bombay high court on Friday, seeking directions to the authorities to test them for Covid-19. The petition was prompted after another activist P Varavara Rao, also arrested in the same case and lodged at Taloja jail, tested positive on Thursday.

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According to the petition, since Rao was discharged from Sir JJ Hospital in May, his health was fragile and Gonsalves acted as his aid. Teltumbde was in the same jail hospital facility where Rao was kept. The plea said Gonsalves suffers from hypertension, blood pressure and has bleeding piles, while Teltumbde suffers from chronic bronchitis asthma, chronic cervical spondylitis, postrtomegaly and supraspinatus tendinosis, and both are on oral drugs and medication.

The petition said the court should decide on whether the two should be shifted to a hospital and tested for Covid-19 and kept in isolation for safety of the public and whether they should be physically isolated to ensure social distancing.