By Jose Kavi
New Delhi: Friends and family members of Father Stan Swamy on May 15 demanded immediate medical care for the 84-year-old Jesuit activist after he developed symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
Father Swamy’s “health condition is getting worse. He has severe cold, fever, body pain and diarrhea,” says Irudaya Swamy, the priest’s elder brother.
Irudaya Swamy further pointed out that Father Stan could not attend the call of his legal counsel on May 15. “We doubt that he is affected by Covid 19. We are worried,” the 90-year-old man from Tamil Nadu told a virtual press conference.
Jesuit Father Arockiasamy Santhanam, spokesperson for the National Lawyers Forum of Religious and Priests, told Matters India that they plan to urge the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to send a team of doctors to the prison to examine the situation and direct the government and prison authorities to attend to the health needs of prisoners such as Father Stan.
“NHRC has issued many protocols to be strictly followed in the prisons. But it seems the Taloja prison does not follow any of the Covid protocols and the prison authorities do not have any respect for the NHRC,” alleged Father Santhanam, who too had attended the virtual press conference by the relatives and friends of Father Stan and 15 others arrested with him the Bhima-Koregaon case.
The Jesuit lawyer wants the NHRC to immediately set up a high level tem comprising retired Supreme Court judges, doctor and civil society leaders to make an on-the-spot study the situation of prisons in the Taloja prison, situated outside Mumbai, western India.
Father Santhanam also said Father Swamy’s friends and relatives want the jail to immediately shift the octogenarian Jesuit and other seriously ill prisoners to private hospitals.
“We demand if the government is not able to provide medical care to Father Stan it should release him on bail or parole to avail better medical care. Otherwise the government would be fully responsible if any unforeseen developments happen,” he said.
The Jesuit lawyer wants the prison authorities to “respect health rights of prisoners. Health right of anyone is a fundamental right and very well part and parcel of Article 21 of Indian Constitution. We hope Taloja (jail) would not become an Auschwitz,” he added.
Jesuit Father Joseph Xavier, director of the Bengaluru-based Indian Social Institute who attended the press conference, noted that Father Swamy has never complained about his health in the past months.
“But on May 14, for the first time, he spoke of his deteriorating health. Furthermore, he is disturbed by what he is seeing inside prison. The Jesuits and the family members are deeply concerned about his health,” Father Xavier told the press conference.
The Jesuit official pointed out Father Stan was already suffering from Parkinson’s disease and loss of hearing. As he suffers fever, cough and troubles in stomach, it is necessary that he be provided allopathic medicine and a doctor for diagnosis and treatment,” Father Xavier said. He also wants Father Stan to be vaccinated for Covid-19 urgently.
Others who addressed the press meet alleged that Ayurvedic medicine is available inside the Taloja prison, but it is not good to treat Covid-19.
They also spoke of a panic situation prevailing in the Taloja and Byculla jails where the Bhima-Koregaon accused are kept. The majority of the staff of the two prisons, especially those working in the kitchen, have been tested Covid-19 positive. “A number of undertrial prisoners are also contracted the coronavirus,” the press conference was told.
Father Swamy was arrested by the National Investigation Agency, India’s counter-terrorism outfit, on October 8, 2020, from his residence near Ranchi, capital of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. He was accused of having links with Maoists and plotting to overthrow the Indian government. The agency flew him to Mumbai where a court remanded him to jail a day after his arrest.
The 16 were all arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.