Mumbai, Nov. 18 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed the jailed Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao to be shifted to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital for fifteen days. The court also said that the Maharashtra state government will bear all the hospital expenses.

The court noted that he was almost on his deathbed.

In response to the plea filed by Rao's wife Hemalatha, the High Court bench of Justice SS Shine and Madhav Jamdar added that Rao should not be discharged from the hospital without informing the court, and that his family should be allowed to meet him at the hospital. And "it goes without saying that the state will bear the expenses," the bench added, according to Bar and Bench.

The next hearing of the case will be held on Dec...