The Bombay High Court will continue to hear the petitions filed by 80-year-old Varavara Rao at 11 am on Wednesday, 18 November, including the request to transfer him to Nanavati Hospital for treatment while his medical and humanitarian bail pleas are considered by the court.
The court was supposed to be hearing the matter on Tuesday, however, because of technical difficulties, the judges were unable to hear Rao’s lawyer, senior advocate Indira Jaising clearly via video conferencing. The court will now conduct an in-person hearing on Wednesday morning.
The high court was supposed to consider a report on Rao’s medical condition by doctors from the super-speciality Nanavati Hospital dated 13 November, so it can decide whether to move him to the hospital or not.
The report was only submitted by the NIA and jail authorities a few hours before the hearing, but Jaising argued it was “an eyewash”. She noted that the teleconsultation had only been conducted for 15 minutes, with no assessment of Rao’s neurological condition, without a neurologist or urologist present (even though his primary illnesses were dementia and urine infection), and that several test results that had been recommended by the doctors at this time and previously had not been included.