Supreme Court extends interim medical bail granted to Varavara Rao by Bombay High Court

The Supreme Court on Monday extended the temporary bail granted by Bombay High Court to 82-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case [P Varavara Rao vs National Investigation Agency and anr]..A Bench of Justices Uday Umesh Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat, and Sudhanshu Dhulia also issued formal notice on the plea and said that the matter would be disposed of in the next hearing. "Considering the nature of controversy of the matter, the matter shall be disposed of in the next occasion. Since we had not issued notice, issue notice returnable on August 10, 2022 ... Interim protection granted earlier on medical grounds extended till further orders," the apex court directed.The service of notice was waived as Additional Solicitor General SV Raju was present at the hearing. Rejoinder has to be filed by August 8 and the matter is likely to come up for final hearing next on August 10..Rao moved the top court after the Bombay High Court refused to grant him permanent medical bail.The High Court bench of SB Shukre and GA Sanap besides rejecting Rao's plea for bail had also dismissed his application to stay in Telangana during the duration of trial.The Court had, however, extended for three more months an earlier order granting him temporary bail on medical grounds.The plea said that Rao has already spent two years in jail as an under-trial, and 'further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination'. It was submitted that the High Court had committed a 'serious error' in holding that indefinite bail could not be granted in the present case as it was only given for six months earlier.The petitioner has several serious health conditions including umbilical hernia, neurological and Parkison's symptoms, brain clots, and cataract in both his eyes for which he has not undertaken surgery given the prohibitive costs in Mumbai, the plea said. It was also contended that even though the High Court has called for the trial to be expedited, over 300 witnesses have to be examined, which would take at least 10 years."In fact, one of the accused in the case, Father Stan Swamy, who was suffering from similar ailments as the Petitioner, passed away even before the trial could start," the plea pointed out.The right to health and medical treatment of the petitioner under Article 21 of the Constitution would be violated if his incarceration at Taloja Jail is allowed to continue, the plea stated. Pertinently, it was stated that the petitioner is neither a flight-risk nor can he tamper evidence or influence witnesses. "It is settled law and this Court has held that bail can be granted in UAPA cases despite the statutory bar on bail when there is a violation of fundamental rights," the petition said.The plea was filed through advocate Nupur Kumar and settled by Senior Advocate Anand Grover.The Bombay High Court in May this year had also rejected the plea filed by Rao and two other accused in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking review of the High Court's December 2021 judgment refusing them default bail.A Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar had stated that there was no factual error in the judgment as claimed by the accused. The bench held that the applications for bail listed in the review application had never been placed before the Court.Eight accused had been refused bail by the High Court on December 1, 2021 while another co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj had been granted bail.The High Court in its December 1 order, while demarcating Bharadwaj's plea from the other eight, had noted that Bharadwaj’s application for default bail was pending on the date the application for extension of time to file the chargesheet was made by the Pune Police.