Human Rights Activist Varavara Rao was shifted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai’s Vile Parle around 1:00 in the morning on Sunday. The Telugu poet was tested positive for the coronavirus recently.
On Monday night, Rao was admitted to JJ Hospital in south Mumbai after his family held an urgent presser to raise concern regarding his deteriorating health condition at Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
Later, the 80-year-old was shifted to state-run St. George Hospital from JJ Hospital’s neurological department after he tested positive for COVID-19. Rao, who has been diagnosed with delirium - an acute neuropsychiatric syndrome, which requires neurological treatment. Therefore, he was shifted to Nanavati Hospital on Sunday.
This comes a day after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to Maharashtra Government seeking a report on the health issues faced by Rao within two weeks of time.
The NHRC issued notices to Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar and the Director-General of Prisons of Maharashtra asking for a report on the jail conditions in which Rao has been kept.
Maja Daruwala, the Commission’s Prison Monitor, filed a complaint on the issues being faced by Rao in Taloja jail. Reacting to this, the NHRC has asked the jail authorities to constitute a medical board to check whether the treatment being provided to Rao was appropriate or not.
On July 11, a phone call from Rao’s inside the prison worried the family as he was unable to talk properly and was talking about the funeral of his mother and father which happened decades ago. Vernon Gonsalves, the co-accused, informed the family that he was unable to walk and take care of himself.
The NHRC observed that the right to life and medical care is one of the basic human rights and the state is bound to provide the same to a prisoner in its custody. Daruwala, in her complaint, stated that Rao’s health was deteriorating while alleging that the authorities were ignoring his condition.
Revealing a shocking incident, Daruwala informed that Rao’s family visited him in JJ Hospital and found the poet lying in a pool of urine on the bed. The family said that Rao’s was lying in the transit ward and was unable to recognise his wife and daughter immediately.
Since Rao is an undertrial prisoner currently in the custody of Maharashtra state, the government must ensure that all the expenses for medical care are borne by the state, the commission said.
Varavara Rao along with 10 other lawyers and human rights activists have been booked under Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the Elgar Parishad case for allegedly instigating violence at the annual Bhima Koregaon event in 2018.
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