Human Rights council voices concern over poet Varavara Rao’s health

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has demanded that incarcerated Maoist poet Varavara Rao should be shifted to a private facility, amid uproar over his deteriorating health.

80-year old Rao, who has been in prison since 2018, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. 

The NHRC has asked the Maharashtra state government to provide him a proper treatment, with expenses to be borne by the state, as Rao is an under trial prisoner. It has also asked the state’s Chief Secretary to personally look into the case, according to Live Law.

Rao, a revolutionary poet, is accused of inciting caste violence at a Dalit rally in Bhima Koregaon village of Maharashtra on January 1, 2018. He was jailed with the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) slapped against him. Several other intellectuals are also languishing in jail related to the same incident.

Alarm over Rao’s health was raised by his family, who found him in terrible condition at a state-run hospital. When they visited him in the hospital earlier this week, they found him on a soiled bed soaked in urine with no one to attend him.

He wasn’t able to recognize his wife and daughter and could not even brush his teeth without the help of his cell-mate, also jailed for the same case.

Earlier this week, Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders, drew attention towards his plight. 

Earlier, a group of over 100 global intellectuals, including Noam Chomsky and Homi K Bhabha, had called for his release.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) also drew attention towards the issue, called the detention of activists “unlawful” and “politically motivated”.

The European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, in a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, in May, expressed alarm at the “intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders” by the authorities.