New Delhi: Activists expressed their grief over the demise of Jesuit priest and tribal rights campaigner Stan Swamy on Monday, demanding that the government fix accountability for this ‘custodial murder.’
Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, died on Monday afternoon in a Mumbai hospital, ahead of his Bail hearing in Bombay High Court.
The Elgar Parishad case stems from allegedly provocative statements made by certain activists at a conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, which allegedly sparked violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war monument on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The conclave was allegedly organized by persons with Maoist ties, according to the authorities.
A member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) politburo, Kavita Krishnan tweeted, ‘It is not Father Stan we mourn for…We condole the death of the judicial process, Constitution in India today.’
She continued in another tweet, ‘It’s over. Modi and Shah have accomplished the custodial killing of the gentle Jesuit social worker Fr Stan Swamy, who spent his life serving the oppressed. I hope the judges who denied him bail never get to sleep at night: they have blood on their hands.’
Harsh Mander, a social activist, called Swamy’s death a national tragedy. ‘Devoted to selfless defence of Adivasi rights. Gentle, brave, even from prison he grieved not for himself but injustice to poor prisoners. A cruel state jailed him to silence his voice, the judiciary did nothing to secure his freedom. A tragedy for the nation,’ he said.
Anjali Bhardwaj, an anti-graft campaigner, and RTI activist called Swamy’s death an ‘institutional murder.’ ‘With UAPA, the process is the punishment. The death of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy should be recognised for what it is – institutional murder. RIP Father Stan,’ she added.
Swamy’s demise was also met with deep sadness and pain by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD). ‘A Jesuit priest and activist who worked tirelessly for the marginalised, the ‘adivasis’, in remote areas of Jharkhand, Stan was jailed on trumped-up charges. Eighty-four-year-old Stan Swamy had, apart from other ailments, been afflicted with Parkinson’s, a disabling condition,’ the NPRD issued statement read. ‘The ruthless and brutal manner in which he was treated is evident,’ it added.
Swamy was allegedly refused therapy and medicine, according to the NPRD. It stated that a campaign had to be initiated to guarantee that he was given something as basic as a sipper, which was so important for his liquid consumption.
The only offense Swamy did, according to the Tribal Army, was standing up for the country’s persecuted tribal people.
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