AGENCIES
The Bombay High Court today refused to grant bail to lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima case being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A bench led by Justice R D Dhanuka rejected an appeal filed by Bharadwaj in June this year, whereby she had challenged a special court’s order that denied her bail on health grounds.
Bharadwaj, had approached the HC seeking bail, saying that she suffered from chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. She had said, these comorbidities put her at a higher risk of contracting Corona virus at the Byculla prison.
The court, however, noted the submissions made by the NIA and the Maharashtra Government that the prison authorities were taking all precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that they were providing necessary medical care to Bharadwaj for her comorbidities. NIA counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh also told the court that if at any time, Bharadwaj’s condition needed further treatment or if she was required to be admitted to a hospital, even a private one, the state would provide for the same. He pointed out that poet-activist Varavara Rao, a co- accused in the case, had been admitted to the state-run J J Hospital and then shifted to the private Nanavati Hospital in the city for treatment of COVID-19 and other ailments.