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The Supreme Court will hear on July 11 a plea by writer and Elgar Parishad case accused P Varavara Rao against the Bombay High Court’s dismissal of his prayer for permanent medical bail and permission to shift to Hyderabad in Telangana.
Senior Advocate Anand Grover told a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala that Rao is 83 years old and suffering from various comorbidities. He urged that the plea be listed soon upon reopening of the court, which is on summer recess now. Following this, the bench listed it for July 11.
Rao said in his plea that had already spent over two years in jail as an undertrial and was granted bail by the High Court on medical grounds in February 2021 which was then extended from time to time. He added that “any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination.”
The High Court had on April 13 rejected Rao’s plea but gave him three more months to return to Taloja prison so that he can undergo surgery for cataract.
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Citing high expenses, Rao had also sought permission to stay in Hyderabad instead of Mumbai while on bail, but this was also rejected by the court.
The High Court said it found substance in some of the claims by Rao’s counsel on lack of medical facilities in the Taloja prison and passed certain directions in that regard.
It also directed the Special NIA court, which is conducting the trial, to expedite the same and hold it on a day-to-day basis.
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