Varavara Rao tests positive for COVID-19, lawyer urges he be shifted to private hospital
The 81-year-old Hyderabad-based poet and activist had been admitted to the Sir JJ hospital on July 13 after his health deteriorated and following repeated pleas from his family.
Published: 16th July 2020 07:17 PM | Last Updated: 16th July 2020 07:56 PM | A+A A-
Arrested Revolutionary Varavara Rao (Photo | EPS)
The 81-year-old Hyderabad-based poet and activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Rao had been admitted to the Sir JJ hospital on July 13 after his health deteriorated in jail and following repeated pleas from his family. A routine swab test done on July 14 confirmed he was COVID-19 positive on July 16 evening.
"Mr Rao will be shifted to St George's hospital for further treatment. In Sir JJ hospital, the patients are not given COVID treatment. Therefore, he will be shifted to St George's hospital,” a doctor from Sir JJ hospital said.
Susan Abraham, lawyer for Rao, was scathing in her condemnation of the treatment meted out to her client.
"The COVID finding highlights the criminal negligence of the state jail authorities, who have been repeatedly warned about the danger of COVID in the Taloja Jail, and the fragile condition of the Hyderabad-based poet-writer. It is a matter of concern too that the trial court handling the Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case turned a deaf ear to pleas for medical bail despite the poor health condition of VV Rao and the danger of COVID," she said.
She also spoke of how the jail authorities had, after growing protests about the neglect of Varavara Rao, put another Bhima Koregaon accused, Vernon Gonsalves, to look after Rao in jail "thus putting Veron too at grave risk".
Abraham said the possible shifting of Rao to St George's hospital, which has a poor healthcare record, will be bad news.
"It may hardly be the place where VV Rao has a chance to recover. The only way VV stands a good chance is if the Bombay High Court, hearing the matter on Friday, gives him medical bail, and he is shifted to a decent private specialty hospital," she insisted.
Abraham further revealed that Varavara Rao's wife, Hemlata, his two daughters and nephew Venugopal, had met him in hospital on Wednesday. "They found him in a pathetic condition with the patient having to lie in urine-soaked clothes for hours, and with very little nursing aid available at the hospital," she said.