India -  Varavara Raoʹs wife Hemalatha wrote letter...Intellectuals Extends solidarity

• Hyderabad, July 19, 2019.Respected Sri Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao garu,
  Governor of Maharashtra.
  I, P Hemalata, wife of Varavara Rao who was implicated in Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case and currently lodged in Yerawada Central Prison, Pune in Maharashtra for the last eight months, would like to request you to take all legal, just and humanitarian actions under your purview with regard to
  Varavara Rao.
  I need not introduce Varavara Rao, who is undergoing incarceration at the age of 79 years for his political and social views. Though you have different political views, you must have acquaintance with him. You might as well have shared a prison life with him when you were also imprisoned during Emergency. Today you are holding the top most constitutional position to the state in which he is imprisoned. I am writing this letter to request you to take all actions under your official purview with regard to the case, to the inordinate delay in granting bail and to the conditions in jail.
  
  I came to know through the media that Varavara Rao and his eight co-accused have written a letter to you and waiting for your response for the last one month. However, neither I could find any response in the media nor any improvement in conditions in Pune jail. Thatʹs why I chose to write to you once again.
  Today there are many people who believe that all the nine accused including Varavara Rao were deliberately, illegally implicated in the conspiracy case only to protect the real culprits of the violence. Indeed, in Varavara Raoʹs case this kind of implication in fabricated cases is not new. In the last 46 years since he was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act in 1973 for the first time, he was implicated in 25 cases. All kinds of serious charges including murder, attempt to murder, distribution of explosives, intimidation, collection of arms, obstructing civil servants from discharge of duties, etc. However, the police could not prove a single charge in a single case out of the 25 cases. Law courts have released Varavara Rao as not guilty from all the cases. In the same we believe the present case also will not stand the scrutiny of law.
  But though he was declared innocent and discharged of all the charges, he had to spend more than seven years in jails as an under-trial prisoner. Now in the present case also he had to spend two months and a half under ʹhouse arrestʹ and over eight months in Pune jail as an under-trial prisoner. The remarkable difference between then and now is that now he is aged and with a failing health.
  Whatever course the case trial may take, according to Indian jurisprudence it is imperative that the accused will be granted bail unless there is a reasonable doubt that they escape from the trial process. But we suspect that the bail process in Pune court is delayed inordinately with deliberate intentions. Coming to the jail conditions, Varavara Rao and his co-accused are not provided with minimum amenities. They are not allowed to have any human and bare minimum facilities as provided in jail manuals and as available in jails in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Specifically in case of Varavara Rao, he is not getting opportunities that he used to get in previous jail terms. They include opportunity to read Telugu books and newspapers, to write, and facilities like a chair and a cot since he is unable to sit and sleep on the floor due to his age. Jail mulakhat permissions are denied even to close family members and relatives as well as friends. All these restrictions indicate that he is being given punishment even before trial. I would like to humbly remind you that as overall authority supervising the entire state machinery you are vested with a responsibility to look after whether legal, just and human treatment is extended to prisoners in jails in your state.
  I request you to kindly initiate discussions on the following concerns with the concerned officials in your government with a humanitarian approach and respect to constitutional ideals as well as legal provisions that term prisons as correctional homes.
  1. Keeping in view Varavara Raoʹs age and failing health, he should be provided better amenities.
  2. Being a student of Telugu literature, Telugu teacher, poet and writer in Telugu for over sixty years, Varavara Rao is denied seeing even a single Telugu letter for the last eight months. At least now he should be allowed to have Telugu books and newspapers.
  3. He should be provided with reading and writing facilities.
  4. Since jail mulakhat permission is now given to only wife and three daughters it should be extended to other family members and friends.
  5. The concerned authorities should be directed to expedite the trial or grant bail as immediately as possible.
  Yours Sincerely
  (P. Hemalata)
  This letter from P Hemalata, wife of Varavara Rao to Maharashtra Governor Sri Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao was endorsed by the following intellectuals and democrats in solidarity to Hemalata.
  1. Chukka Ramaiah, Octogenarian educationist
  2. Potturi Venkateswara Rao, Octogenarian journalist
  3. Vasant Kannabiran, writer
  4. Nikhileshwar, poet
  5. Devipriya, poet
  6. K Siva Reddy, poet
  7. Volga, writer
  8. Prof. G Haragopal, social scientist
  9. Prof. Vakulabharanam Ramakrishna, social scientist
  10. Prof. D Narsimha Reddy, social scientist
  11. Prof. V S Prasad, social scientist
  12. Prof. K Chakradhar Rao, social scientist
  13. Prof. Susie Tharu, English professor
  14. Prof. Rama Melkote, social scientist
  15. Prof. Katyayani Vidmahe, Telugu professor
  16. Prof. P L Vishweshwar Rao, Journalism professor
  17. Prof. Padmaja Shah,Journalism professor
  18. Prof. Yendluri Sudhakar, Telugu professor
  19. Prof. Alladi Uma, English professor
  20. Prof. M Sridhar, English professor
  21. Prof. K Lakshminarayana, social scientist
  22. K Lalita, writer
  23. Kalpana Kannabiran, social scientist
  24. K Ramachandra Murty, Editor
  25. K Srinivas, Editor
  26. Zaheer Ali Khan, Editor
  27. Devulapalli Amar, Indian Journalists Union
  28. K Srinivas Reddy, Indian Journalists Union
  29. P Lokeshwar, novelist and writer
  30. Pasham Yadagiri, senior journalist