Bombay High Court, on Monday, granted bail to Varavara Rao, an 81-year-old poet-activist who is an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case. The interim bail has been granted for six months by Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale. Citing the condition of Rao, a two-judge bench said that it would be inappropriate to send him back to jail.
Rao has been in jail since August 2018 after he was arrested by the Pune Police. He was admitted to Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital after his health condition deteriorated.
Rao has been directed by the court to not indulge in any activities that led to the registration of the FIR against him and to stay within the jurisdiction of the Special NIA Court.
The poet is among over a dozen scholars and rights activists arrested for their alleged links with Maoists and for allegedly instigating violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in 2018. Rao has been booked under the anti-terror law, UAPA, 1967, a non-bailable offence, by the special NIA court in the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon case that was transferred from the Pune Police to NIA in February 2020.