The Bombay High Court has extended poet and activist P Varavara Rao stay at Nanavati Hospital. On November 18, the court had given permission to shift him to hospital. Following this, he was admitted to the hospital on November 19, 2020.
As per the family, while 82-year-old is recovering well, they will like to go through his medical reports and consult a doctor before proceeding any further. They also want to look into the fact that if it is possible to file for bail on medical grounds. The court accepted this and restrained the state and National Investigation Agency (NIA) from discharging Rao without informing the court.
Rao was arrested in 2018 under the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act or UAPA in connection with the Elgar Parishad case was earlier diagnosed with delirium - an acute neuropsychiatric syndrome and was reportedly COVID-19 positive. With regards to the arrest, the Police had alleged that in the event Elgaar Parishad, leftist groups and Naxalites had participated where speeches had been made including those by Rao and others which were responsible for inciting violence that occurred the next day.
The charges filed by the police include 'conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi', to 'overthrow the government', 'waging war against the Government of India' under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Also, it has been alleged that some of the arrested individuals are active members of the banned CPI (Maoists) party. In January 2020, the case was transferred to the NIA.