HYDERABAD: A division bench of the High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing by one week in the case filed against the arrest of revolutionary writer and activist P Varavara Rao as a similar case regarding arrest of civil rights activists, who included Varavara Rao, was coming up for hearing on Thursday (September 6).
The bench said that it would examine the issue of allowing a doctor to provide medical assistance to Rao if a miscellaneous petition was filed. The bench was dealing with the petition filed by P Hemalatha, wife of Varavara Rao, urging the court to declare as illegal the arrest orders of the Maharashtra police and that her husband be produced in the court.
Last week, the bench had directed the Telangana police to hand over a copy of the transit order in Telugu language to the wife of Varavara Rao who was arrested by the Maharashtra police in Hyderabad and taken to Pune in connection with the clashes held at Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra in January.
When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, petitioner’s counsel D Suresh Kumar said the police placed Varavara Rao under house arrest in pursuant of the order of the Supreme Court. A large number of policemen were deployed near the apartment where Rao lives, thereby causing inconvenience to the locals and preventing doctors from attending to Rao. He urged the court to issue directions for allowing doctors to extend medical assistance to Rao.
Government counsel Santosh Kumar said that the arrest of civil rights activists was listed for hearing before the Supreme Court on Thursday. As per an earlier direction of the High Court, a copy of the transit order issued by the Maharashtra police to take Varavara Rao to Pune was handed over to the petitioner, he said and urged the court not to allow private doctors to treat Rao as the state was ready to extend the services of government doctors.
After hearing both sides, the bench told the petitioner that it would examine the issue of allowing a family doctor if a miscellaneous petition was filed before the court. As the case of the arrest of activists was coming up for hearing before the apex court on Thursday, the bench adjourned hearing of the case by one week.