Frontlist | Lawyers demand release on health grounds of Indian author jailed over alleged Maoist links

Frontlist | Lawyers demand release on health grounds of Indian author jailed over alleged Maoist links
on Jan 21, 2021

LAWYERS for jailed Indian author Varavara Rao appealed on Tuesday for his immediate release on medical grounds, after a report said that the holding him prison would not be able to meet his various health needs. In the application to the Bombay High Court, senior advocate Anand Grover said that Tajola prison hospital cannot provide the necessary care. Mr Rao is currently a patient at Nanavati hospital in Mumbai, where he is being treated for kidney failure. The 81-year-old also suffers from heart ailments and blood pressure problems and is taking some 20 different medicines. The hospital has said that he was “stable and fit for discharge,” Mr Grover told told the court, but “Mr Rao will require constant monitoring and medical attention, for which the infrastructure at the Taloja prison hospital will be inadequate.” The writer was among a number of people arrested for alleged links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on December 31 2017. His detention related to a speech he gave at an event marking the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon, fought against the British East India Company. The event, organised by more than 260 community groups, descended into violence in which a 28-year-old man was killed. Source: Morning Star UK