Telugu poet Varavara Rao has approached the Supreme Court seeking medical bail in the Bhima-Koregaon case. A vacation bench of justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala will hear on July 11.
Senior advocate Anand Grover sought an urgent hearing for the poet as his bail granted by the Bombay High Court in April, will end on July 13. He said Rao is 83 years old and there is some urgency to the case".
In April, the Bombay HC had rejected Rao's plea for a permanent medical bail and permission to move to Hyderabad. He had argued about the high medical expenses of Mumbai. Rao has spent two-and-a-half years in custody as an undertrial.
Citing his worsening Parkinson's disease, he told the court that he deserves permanent medical bail so that he can live with his family in Hyderabad where free medical care is available for former government employees.
Rao is among the activists, lawyers, poets, and scholars arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. Police argue that the alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, led to the violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.
The poet was arrested on August 28, 2018, from his home in Hyderabad. He is under trial in the Bhima Koregaon case for which an FIR was lodged by the Pune Police at Vishrambaug Police Station on January 8, 2018. He is charged with various sections of IPC and UAPA.