A court in Madhugiri in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against activist and revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, who is currently out on bail on medical grounds in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. The NBW has been issued in a case pertaining to an attack on policemen in Tumakuru in 2005, in which Varavara Rao and Gaddar (another activist-poet) are among the accused, Varavara Rao’s advocate S Balan told PTI.
The lawyer said he will be moving the Karnataka High Court on Monday, October 25, challenging the NBW issued against Varavara Rao by the Additional Sessions Court at the taluk headquarters town of Madhugiri. The case in which Rao has been made an accused is related to an attack by Naxalites on a police team on February 10, 2005, in which six policemen and a civilian were killed at Venkatammanahalli in Pavagada Taluk in Tumakuru district.
The 81-year-old poet-activist is currently on bail under the condition of not moving out of Mumbai in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case, which happened during the annual celebratory gathering on January 1, 2018 to mark the battle of Bhima Koregaon that was fought 200 years ago. Rao, along with many other prominent people, was arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for an alleged Elgar Parishad-Maoist link and was sent to jail.
Varavara Rao had applied for bail on the medical grounds, which the Bombay High Court granted in February this year with a condition that he should remain within the jurisdiction of the Special Court for National Investigation Agency. According to his plea, he is suffering from a urinary tract infection with recurrent hyponatremia, suspicion of the Parkinsons' disease, lacunar infarcts in six major lobes of the brain, and some eye problems. Other prominent personalities who were arrested with him included the late Jesuit priest and human rights activist Stan Swamy who died while he was in NIA custody.