Father Stan Swamy, 84-year-old activist arrested under anti-terror law, passes away

Stan Swamy, 84-year-old tribal rights activist arrested under anti-terrorism law last year, passed away after prolonged illness, an official of a hospital where he was being treated informed the Bombay High Court on Monday.

Swamy, 84, died at 1.30 pm on Monday, Dr Ian D'Souza, director of the Holy Family Hospital in suburban Bandra, told the HC's division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar.

The tribal rights activist was admitted to the private hospital on May 29 from the Taloja prison following the HC's order on a petition filed by him, seeking medical attention as he was then suffering from COVID-19 and Parkinson's disease.

D'Souza told the court that Swamy suffered a cardiac arrest early Sunday morning following which he was put on ventilator support.

He (Swamy) did not recover and passed away this afternoon, the official told the court.

The cause of the death is pulmonary infection, Parkinson's disease and post COVID-19 complications, he said.

Swamy's counsel Mihir Desai said there was negligence on part of the Taloja prison authorities, who failed to provide immediate medical attention to the Jesuit priest.

Swamy was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in October 2020 and had been in jail since then.

Earlier on Sunday, Father Stan Swamy had been put on a ventilator and his health had deteriorated. He was shifted to Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital from Taloja jail after the Bombay High Court’s intervention on May 28.

The 84-year-old Jesuit priest was placed in judicial custody after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested him last year. He had been keeping unwell since early May at the Taloja jail, but was not tested for Covid-19 then. After a public outcry, he was administered Covid vaccine and he had also tested positive for Covid. When he was given the vaccine, he was already severely ill.

Fr Stan’s plea for bail was scheduled for hearing on July 2, 2021, before a bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar but due to paucity of time, it was adjourned to July 6. His lawyer Mihir Desai had appealed against the orders of NIA special court rejecting his bail pleas.

The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM), a network of people’s organisations and activists, has demanded immediate bail and access to all other necessary medical facilities for him.

All India Catholic Association has issued a statement condoling his demise:

"The All India Catholic Association mourns the death of Jesuit Fr Stanislaus Swamy, 84, in the Holy Family Hospital, Mumbai where he was brought in his last few days after facing inhuman treatment while in jail together with others arrested in the so called Bhima Koregaon conspiracy to murder political leaders. Stan swamy and the others denied the charges, as human rights movements accusing the state of using the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to crush dissent and the rights of India’s Dalits and Tribal communities.

His lawyers have asked the Bombay High Court to order a judicial enquiry into all aspects of his incarceration and death. The All India Catholic Union reaffirms this demand for a Judicial enquiry, and also demands the repeal of the UAPA and such draconian laws under which thousands of people, old and young have been put in jail and denied rudimentary justice.

His was a death foretold. It was clear that the State had, in cold blood, decided to wreak on him and others the full might of its vengeance for daring to speak for the poor and the deprived. Fr Stan, the legendary worker for the rights of tribal and the indigenous people in India and elsewhere in the world, lived in Ranchi, Jharkhand. He was in his small room when he was arrested, his computer and other belongings seized and put into jail. He told his interrogators of the police and the National Investigations Agency then and later that he was totally innocent of charges put on him.

In jail, with his health failing with advanced states of Parkinson’s disease, he was denied basic human dignity and facilities including a simple water sipper as he could no longer hold a cup in his trembling hands. A man who could hardly move, he was systematically denied bail by various courts. Ironically, his last bail application came up for hearing in the afternoon of 5 July when the Director of the Holy Family Hospital gave a simple statement that Fr Stan had passed away.

The course of the various stages of his bail application, the manner in which the investigating agencies and the prosecution insisted he was too dangerous to be released are ample evidence that the state wanted to make an example out of him, and the others arrested with him.

One of Fr. Stan Swamy’s last messages from jail was “What is happening to me is not something unique, happening to me alone. It is a broader process that is taking place all over the country. We are all aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders – they are all put in jail just because they have expressed their dissent… I am ready to pay the price whatever may it be.”

But even from jail, Fr Stan would not allow his spirit to be arrested by his inhumane treatment and a vengeful state. . Even in Jail the free bird sings, he told Jesuit colleagues.

In life and in his martyrdom, Fr Stan Swamy has become a beacon for all who struggle for human rights, specially the rights of the Tribals and other marginalised people, and a role model for young men and women across the nation."

With PTI inputs