The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the Telangana police to provide a copy of the transit warrant for Telugu poet Varavara Rao, to his wife Hemalatha, after translating it into Telugu, within 48 hours. 

Hemalatha had moved a Lunch Motion petition, alleging that the Maharashtra police had illegally taken her husband into custody and demanded that he be produced before the court. 

Hearing the petition, a bench comprising Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice T Amarnath Goud issued notices to the Maharashtra DGP and his Telangana counterpart, ordering both of them to file their counter-affidavits.

“There is no need to worry about life threat to Varavara Rao since the police have taken him into custody and was remanded in the presence of others. The issue is sensitive since it involved the interests of the nation and the freedom of an individual. There is a need to hear the case on the issue whether the police have acted contrary to the guidelines or not. If the orders of the police are against the guidelines then it will be suspended”, the bench was quoted as saying.

The case was posted for one week later. A letter in Marathi was also handed to the others who were raided in Hyderabad, which sought for their arrest, for 'aiding' Vara Vara Rao's 'activities'. 

Meanwhile, in a relief to Varavara Rao later in the day, a Pune court put him as well as civil rights activist-lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, under house arrest, hours after the Supreme Court orders in this regard.

Describing dissent as a safety valve, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that the five human rights activists arrested by Pune Police should be kept under house arrest until the next date of hearing on September 6.

Rao was arrested from Hyderabad while the two others were held from Thane and Mumbai respectively on Tuesday by Pune police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon riot on January 1.

IANS inputs