SC dismisses Varavara Rao's plea seeking modification of bail condition

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea by activist and poet P Varavara Rao an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence in Maharashtra seeking modification of his bail conditionRao has sought modification of the condition which required him to seek prior permission from the trial court if he wished to leave the Greater Mumbai areaA bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi expressed disinclination to grant modification and the matter was dismissed as withdrawnGovernment will take care of his health or go to the same court We are not interested the bench saidSenior advocate Anand Grover appearing for Rao submitted that the activist has been out on bail for four years but his health is deterioratingGrover stated that Raos wife used to take care of him earlier but she has shifted to HyderabadHe said there is no one to look after him at present and the trial is also not likely to be completed anytime soonThe top court on August 10 2022 granted bail to Rao on medical groundsThe apex court said He is 82 years old He has been in custody for two and a half years Though chargesheet has been filed some of the accused are still not apprehended and matter has not been taken up for framing of charges against accused before courtThe bench continued This bail is purely on medical grounds The order shall not be a precedent for the cases of other accused or the appellant itself on meritsThe top court ordered Rao not to leave the jurisdiction of Mumbai without express permission of the trial courtHe should not misuse his liberty or get in touch with witnesses He is entitled to medical treatment of his choice But he has to keep the NIA National Investigation Agency informed about the same the court saidThe Telugu poet was arrested on 28 August 2018 from his home in Hyderabad and was an undertrial in the Bhima Koregaon case in which an FIR was lodged by the Pune Police at Vishrambagh Police Station on January 8 2018 under various sections of IPC and several provisions of the UAPAInitially Rao was put under house arrest and on November 17 2018 was taken into police custody He was later shifted to Taloja Jail in MaharashtraOn February 22 2021 the Bombay High Court granted him bail on medical grounds and he was released on 6 MarchOn April 13 2022 however the court dismissed the activists plea for permanent bail but extended his temporary medical bail by three monthsThe court also dismissed Raos plea seeking a transfer back to Telangana Rao has been out on medical bail in MumbaiThe case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra cityThe Pune police said the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist linksLater the NIA took over the probe in the caseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever