Bhima Koregaon - Bombay High Court Relaxes Bail Condition To Facilitate Varavara Rao Release On Temporary Bail

A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale further granted the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad accused time till April 5, 2021 to furnish solvent sureties. The octogenarian has been under custody awaiting trial since August 28, 2018.

He was admitted to Nanavati Hospital in November, 2020 following the HC's intervention and was granted temporary bail by the same bench for six months, on February 22, 2021.

The court had observed then, that if it denies relief to Rao, it will be abdicating its constitutional duties as a protector of human rights and right to health covered under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The court had, however, imposed stringent bail conditions on Rao which included living within the jurisdiction of the Special NIA Court, in Mumbai, till the end of the trial.

Rao approached the court seeking modification of his bail order. He sought time to furnish solvent sureties owing to the Covid- 19 pandemic and release on provisional cash security, till then. He was represented by Senior Advocate Anand Grover, advocates R. Satyanarayan and Neeraj Yadav.

Advocate Sandesh Patil appearing on behalf of NIA opposed the application.

"Although the learned counsel appearing for the Respondent – NIA opposed the grant of such prayer, we are of the opinion that in the interest of justice, due to prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation, the aforesaid limited prayer can be granted." The bench observed in its order.

Click here to download the Order