NEW DELHI: The
Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed jailed activist and poet
Varavara Rao to be shifted to Nanavati Hospital for 15 days of treatment.
Cost of Rao's 15-day treatment will be borne by the
Maharashtra government. The court also allowed his family to visit him as per the hospital's norms.
The activist is currently lodged as an under-trial in the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.
81-year-old Rao had filed a bail application and a writ petition seeking he be shifted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai immediately, owing to his "diminishing neurological and physical health condition".
Since his arrest in June 2018, Rao has been in and out of the government-run JJ hospital in the city. On July 16, he tested positive for
coronavirus, after which he was shifted to the Nanavati hospital. He was discharged on July 30 and sent back to the Taloja prison.
(
With agency inputs)