Mumbai: The Byculla prison authorities have told the Bombay High Court that while lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case is a diabetic and suffers from a heart condition, her vital parameters are normal.
As per the prison report submitted on Monday, Bharadwaj is "diabetic and suffers from ischemic disease", a heart condition.
Bharadwaj has approached the high court seeking bail on health grounds after a special court rejected the same on May 29.
She had applied for bail after an inmate in the Byculla women's prison tested coronavirus positive earlier this year.
Last month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had filed an affidavit in the high court opposing Bharadwaj's bail plea.
It said that Bharadwaj, 58, was taking "undue advantage" of the pandemic and her pleadings on her having co-morbidities and therefore, being a high-risk candidate for COVID-19 were a mere "ruse" to seek bail.
It had said that the lawyer would be given adequate medical aid in the prison as and when required.
Bharadwaj's bail plea was scheduled to be heard by abench led by Justice S S Shindeon Thursday, but couldn't be taken up due to lack of time.
The same bench was also scheduled to hear the interim bail plea of Bharadwaj's co-accused in the case, poet Varavara Rao. However, even that could not be taken up due to lack of time.
On Monday, a bench led by Justice S S Shinde had asked the state and the NIA to clarify whether Rao's family could be permitted to see him. This was while the court was hearing an interim bail plea filed by Rao seeking bail on medical grounds.
Rao was shifted from the Taloja prison to the hospital after his health condition deteriorated last week.
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