Supreme Court Posts Varavara Rao's Bail Plea For Final Hearing On August 10; Interim Bail Extended

While doing so, a Bench comprising Justices UU Lalit, Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia also formally issued notice, seeking the response of the National Investigation Authority.

"Considering the nature of controversy of the matter, the matter shall be disposed of in the next occasion. Since we had not issued notice earlier, issue notice, returnable on August 10, 2022."

The Bench also extended the interim protection earlier granted on medical grounds.

"Interim protection granted earlier on medical grounds extended till further orders."

On April 13, this year, the Bombay High Court had refused him permission to reside at his home in Telangana but had extended the period of temporary bail by three months for his cataract operation and issued directions to expedite the trial. 

During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Anand Grover appearing for Rao pointed out that the latest Bombay High Court order had said that conditions in jail ought to be improved.

"Let's not go into that", replied the Bench.

While issuing notice, the bench also dispensed with service of notice since an Additional Solicitor General is appearing in the matter.

The Court also ordered the ASG to place all material on record by August 2 and to file the rejoinder applications by August 8.

Varavara Rao, currently on bail on medical grounds, through the present special leave petition submitted that any further incarceration would "ring the death knell" for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination. 

The petition also highlighted the case of another accused, 83-year old tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, who had passed away while in custody in the case in July 2021.

The petitioner has submitted that since the grant of bail in February 2021, his health had deteriorated and that he had developed umbilical hernia for which he had to undergo surgery.

Further, he also requires to be operated for cataract in both his eyes, which he has not undertaken as the cost in Mumbai is prohibitive.

In February, 2021 the Bombay High Court had granted bail to the 82-year-old for six months and imposed stringent conditions, one of them being that Rao shouldn't leave the jurisdiction of the Special NIA Court in Mumbai. 

To reiterate, in April, 2022, the High Court had refused him permanent bail but extended his temporary bail granted on medical grounds by three months.

The NIA has accused Rao and 14 other activists of furthering the agenda of the banned CPI(Maoist) and conspiring to overthrow the government. They were booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) based on letters/emails primarily retrieved from their electronic devices. As part of a criminal conspiracy, NIA alleged that the Elgar Parishad Cultural Event was organized in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The agency had alleged that the inflammatory speeches at the event contributed to the caste violence at Bhima Koregaon the following day.

The accused had claimed that while most of them hadn't participated in the event or weren't named in the FIR, the electronic evidence was planted.

Case Title: Dr P Varavara Rao vs National Investigation Agency & Ors