By I P Sarto
Dumka: Christians in Jharkhand state’s Dumka town on January 15 took out a candle light procession to pray for Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, who has completed 100 days in a Mumbai prison.
They prayed and walked with posters demanding the release of the member of the Jamshedpur Jesuit province.
“We demand his release as he is innocent,” said Daniel Hembrum, a lay leader who joined the procession. We believe he was falsely accused by the vested interested people as he worked for the welfare of the tribals in Jharkhand,”he added,
John Marandi, a youth leader, termed the octogenarian Jesuit’s incarceration as unjust. “Father Stan needs to be cared for as he is sick, old and he stood for the exploited and marginalized in society,” he added.
Martha Hansda, a social worker, wants the government to release Father Stan on bail and allow the law and justice to take its course. “Father Stan is a model for all courageous social activists,: she told Matters India.
Sylvester Marandi from Guhiajori village, 10 km from Dumka, pointed out that Father Stan as a social activist had taken up the cause of “our poor tribals, thus I stand in support of him.:
Monica Murmu, another youth, said since Christians are part the body of Christ. :Father Stan is a part of the body of Christ. Hence his pain is our pain too,” she added.
Some people of other faiths also joined the candle light procession to demand the release of Father Stan, said Father Simon Murmu, a Dumka diocesan priest.
Father Christopher Hembrum, another Dumka priest, noted that people prayed and sang hymns along the road without blocking the traffic. “This orderly procession was well appreciated by the passers-by and shop keepers,” he added.