Delhi, August 12, 2022: Varavara Rao, Indian activist and poet, who was accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregoan violence case has been granted permanent bail on medical grounds by the Supreme Court on August 11th.
Rao was arrested in 2018 along with 15 other accused in the same case. Earlier Rao’s plea for bail had been rejected by the Bombay High Court after which he made an appeal to the Supreme Court for the same.
The bench of Justices for the 82-year-old poet’s case consisted of UU Lalit, next Chief Justice of India, Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia. Considering his advanced age, his medical condition, and the two-and-half years he already spent in custody, permanent medical bail was granted to Rao.
“Considering the totality of circumstances, the appellant is entitled to bail on medical grounds,” the bench said.
Of the 16 arrested in the case, Priest Father Stan Swamy passed away last year in jail. His associates allege that medical negligence was the cause of his death. In the same regard, Rao’s lawyer Anand Grover posed a question to the bench if Rao should die in jail just like Stan Swamy. He also claimed that Rao had begun to show symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and there is no guarantee of how long this trial would last.
The SC had overruled the judgement passed by the High Court and also deleted their condition that the accused should return to jail in three months after temporary bail.
The bench clarified that bail in this case was granted solely on medical grounds and should not be held as an example for other cases.
This raises several issues, primarily if age should also be considered in other cases as well. Too many prisoners who have not been proven guilty are in jail and such undertrial cases should be given priority as well.
