The Bombay High Court on Saturday extended the duration of activist Varavara Rao’s medical bail till March 3, reported PTI.

Rao is among the accused in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case. He is among the 16 activists who have been charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly conspiring to set off caste violence in a village near Pune in 2018.

Rao, 82, was granted bail on medical grounds in February last year. The court has been granting extensions on the bail order since September.

In a fresh application on Saturday Rao’s lawyers sought another extension. Citing medical reports, they told the court that Rao has been suffering from neurological ailments, abdomen pain which could due to umbilical hernia and asymptomatic Parkinson’s disease.

The application also sought a modification in the bail conditions, to allow him to leave Mumbai and go to his home in Telangana.

The High Court said it will hear the matter next on March 3.

The accused persons in the case, most of whom are activists, lawyers and academics, have on several occasions alleged that they had been denied basic medical care in prison. While granting medical bail to Rao in February, the Bombay High Court had observed that he was “almost on deathbed”.

Tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, who had died in custody while awaiting bail on health grounds, had to wait for a month to get a sipper to drink water. Swamy suffered from Parkinson’s disease that made it difficult for him to hold a glass.

In October, Gautam Navlakha’s partner Sahba Husain had said that the activist’s health condition had deteriorated after he was shifted to the high-security barrack called the “Anda circle” of Taloja Jail.

Delhi University professor Hany Babu had to approach the court to get permission to be hospitalised to get treatment for an eye infection after testing positive for the coronavirus.

In December, lawyer Surendra Gadling had also alleged that the superintendent of Taloja Jail has denied him access to his ayurvedic medicine despite a court order allowing it.