Bhima Koregaon case: Varavara Rao moves SC for bail
New Delhi, Jun 30: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on July 11, a plea filed by Telugu poet and Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad accused P Varavara Rao challenging the Bombay High Court order rejecting his prayer for permanent medical bail in the case.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala was told by senior advocate Anand Grover that he is an 83-year-old man suffering from various comorbidities.
All I am asking is that the plea be listed on reopening of the court , Grover told the bench while mentioning the plea for urgent listing.
He said that the petitioner was granted medical bail and he is to surrender in July.
The bench said that it will list the plea on July 11.
Upon being orally mentioned by the learned Senior counsel appearing for the petitioner seeking urgent listing of the matter, the Registry is directed to list this matter on July 11, 2022, before an appropriate Bench , the vacation bench ordered.
Rao in his appeal filed through advocate Nupur Kumar against the Bombay High Court order of April 13 said, The Petitioner, is an 83-year-old renowned Telugu poet and orator, who has undergone over two years of incarceration as an under-trial, and is currently enlarged on bail on medical grounds by the Bombay High Court respectfully submits that any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination .
Rao said that he has challenged the High Court order as he was not granted an extension of bail, despite his advanced age and precarious and deteriorating health condition, and has been denied the prayer to shift to Hyderabad.
He was arrested on August 28, 2018, from his home in Hyderabad and is an under-trial in the Bhima Koregaon case for which FIR was lodged by the Pune Police at Vishrambagh Police Station on January 8, 2018, under various sections of IPC and several provisions of UAPA.
Initially, Rao said that he was put under house arrest pursuant to the order of the apex court and ultimately on November 17, 2018, he was taken into police custody and later shifted to Taloja Jail.
On February 22, 2021, the Bombay High Court granted him bail on medical grounds and was released from jail on March 6, 2021.
Giving extensive details of his health conditions including suffering in the jail, Rao said that the order of the Bombay High Court dated February 22, 2021, had contemplated that the Petitioner could be on medical bail for an extended period, and even permanently, on medical grounds depending on his medical condition supported by medical examination reports.
The Judges in the impugned judgement and order committed a serious error in proceeding on the footing that because the earlier order had granted bail for a limited period of time, namely six months, it (the earlier bench) was not prepared to grant the bail for an unlimited period of time , the appeal said.
It added that after the grant of bail by the order on February 22, 2021, the Petitioner's health deteriorated and he had developed an umbilical hernia for which he had to undergo surgery.
He also needs to be operated for cataract in both his eyes, which he has not undertaken as the cost in Mumbai is prohibitive , it said, adding that the Petitioner has also been suffering from increasing neurological symptoms, that is, slowness of movement, hand tremors, stooping posture, amongst other symptoms.
Rao in his appeal said, It is submitted that in the totality of circumstances, the trial will take not less than 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 .
He submitted that the Petitioner has a right to health and medical treatment under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the same would be violated if he was subjected to incarceration at Taloja jail.
On April 13, the High Court had rejected the plea but had extended the time for the 83-year-old activist to surrender before the Taloja prison authorities by three months, to enable him to undergo cataract surgery.
It had also dismissed Rao's application seeking that he be permitted to stay in Hyderabad instead of Mumbai, while out on bail.
The High Court had said it had found substance in several claims made by Rao's counsel on lack of medical facilities in the Taloja prison, located in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, and poor hygiene conditions there.
The court had, therefore, directed the Maharashtra Inspector General of prisons to submit a "candid" report on the state of such facilities at the "Taloja prison in particular," and also in all prisons across the state.
The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.
The Pune police had also claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.
Later, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe into the case.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
