By Matters India Reporter

Ranchi, October 22, 2019: A coalition of progressive organizations in Jharkhand has condemned police attaching the belongings of an octogenarian Jesuit social activist.

The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) “demands immediate quashing of the FIR and dropping of all frivolous charges against Stan Swamy and other activists and public intellectuals,” says a press release the collective issued hours after the police action on October 21.

The JJM, formed to facilitate efforts to defend people’s rights and save democracy in Jharkhand, also demanded action against the Khunti police for “the repression unleashed by it in Pathalgadi villages and building a false case against Stan Swamy and others.”

A 30-member Jharkhand police team attached Father Stan Swamy’s belongings at the Bagaicha campus, his residence in Namkum Namkum near the state capital of Ranchi. The reason: the 83-year old priest had not appeared in court over a case concerning a Facebook post in 2018 that upheld the demand of Sarna tribals for their own code in the census.

Khunti Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar said the priest’s worldly possessions were attached over a case of an “objectionable Facebook post.”

Following this, a First Information Report was registered against him and others. “Despite summons and warrant, when he did not appear in the trial court, an order was sent to attach his property was issued,” Shekhar added.

Another member of the raiding party told reporters that all they could find was a table, a steel almirah, three chairs and a bed.

The JJM press note says the police team took away two tables, three chairs, one almirah and one mattress from the priest’s room. The priest was not present during the raid.

The coalition says the attachment was in connection with the sedition case filed in July 2018 against the priest and 19 other activists of Jharkhand, over their Facebook posts that questioned state excesses in villages that conducted Pathalgadi and attack on Adivasi rights.

Pathalgadi (erection of stone) is an ancient tradition of Adivasis and forest dwelling communities in Jharkhand. Recently, residents of many villages erected traditional stone plaques with inscriptions of articles from Constitution, provisions of Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) and fifth schedule inscribed on them.

The JJM says the administration framed the Facebook posts as evidence of the activists’ endorsement of the Pathalgadi movement. They were also booked under 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000, which was repealed by the Supreme Court in 2015.

“In fact, a recent fact-finding inquiry by JJM found severe repression and violence in the Pathalgadi villages. Thousands of Adivasis have been wrongly charged with sedition,” the press release alleges.

In August 2018, the priest and three others challenged the FIR in the Ranchi High Court and requested for its quashing.

During the High Court hearing, the district court of Khunti, based on the prayers of the local police, issued an arrest warrant against them on June 19 this year.

JMM points out such a warrant are issued only if it is proved that the accused is hiding or trying to evade arrest.

Before the warrant was issued, the Khunti police did not visit the residences of the priest and others or send them a notice. “This raises questions on the legality of the warrant itself,” the JJM said.

However, a week before the warrant was issued, a police team from Maharashtra raided the priest’s room in the presence of Jharkhand police.

“His presence at Bagaicha during the raid was reported widely reported in the media. And yet, the Khunti police got an arrest warrant issued in a week,” the JJM press note bemoans.

On July 22, the Khunti court, at the plea of the police, declared the priest an absconder. He subsequently appealed for quashing this order as well. On September 24, the notice for attachment of his property was issued.

The JJM finds its ironical that the Khunti police declared the priest an absconder although he was present and cooperated with the Maharashtra police.

When the priest’s lawyer raised the matter in the High Court, the government lawyer sought additional time to explain it.

The government lawyer was asked to justify the state’s orders, regarding the arrest warrant and declaring the priest an absconder at the next hearing scheduled for October 23.

“The attachment of Stan’s belongings just two days before the hearing, while the matter was being debated in the High Court, indicates an attempt by the police to ensure that Stan’s appeal for quashing of arrest warrant becomes infructuous,” the JMM alleges.

It noted that the priest has worked for the rights of the Adivasis and other marginalized groups in Jharkhand for the past several decades.

Among other issues, he works on displacement caused due to forced acquisition of land, the condition of undertrials and implementation of PESA.

“The harassments are wholly unjustified and are part of the government’s growing attempts to stifle dissent and intimidate those fighting for justice,” the activists collective says.

It further says the police haste to declare the priest an absconder and attach his belongings, weeks before the state elections, indicates an attempt by the BJP “to invent a false enemy and engage in scaremongering in order to polarize the election in its favor.”

Jharkhand, an eastern Indian state, is ruled by a coalition headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Election to the state legislative assembly is due by the end of this year.