By Matters India Reporter
Mumbai: Jesuit tribal activist Father Stan Swamy, who was arrested under India’s anti-terror laws nine months ago, died on July 5 in Mumbai.
The 84-year-old priest had been on a ventilator since his health deteriorated a day earlier. He had recovered from Covid-19 recently.
The death occurred at 1:24 pm in Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital, managed by the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate congregation.
Father Swamy is accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case and was arrested from Ranchi on October 8, 2020. He was brought to Mumbai, the same evening and a court sent him to jail the next day.
Swamy was shifted to the hospital from the Taloja Central Jail on May 29, on orders from the Bombay High Court.
Father Swamy continued to remain critical even after recovering Covid-19.
A week ago, Father Swamy also filed a fresh plea in the High Court, challenging section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), that imposes stringent bars on the grant of bail to an accused charged under the Act.
Father Swamy and other accused in the case had repeatedly complained of inadequate health facilities in the Taloja prison near Mumbai, where they had been jailed during their trial.
They had alleged neglect by prison officials in ensuring medical aid, tests, hygiene and social distancing.
In May, Stan Swamy had told the High Court via video-conferencing that his health had consistently declined at the Taloja prison.
He had urged the court to release him on interim bail at the time and had said if the situation continued, he “would die soon.”
The National Human Rights Commission on July 4 issued a notice to the Maharashtra government responding to a complaint from Jesuit lawyer Father Santhanam alleging serious health condition of Father Swamy.
Swamy and his co-accused in the Elgar case have repeatedly complained of inadequate health facilities at the Taloja prison, where they were lodged as undertrials.
Father Swamy, who had worked for tribals in Jharkhand for more than five decades, was charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with links to Maoists.
Father Swamy was born on April 26, 1937, in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. He joined the Jamshedpur province of the Society of Jesus on May 30, 1957, and was ordained a priest on April 14, 1970. He took his final vows as Jesuit on April 22, 1981.
He served as a social worker in Jamshedpur and Chaibasa from 1971 to 1974. He sent to Indian Social Institute in Bangalore in 1975 where he remained until 1991. He returned to Jharkhand to do social work in tribal research and training center attached to St Xavier’s, Lupungutu village in West Singhbhum district.
He then worked for the Chaibasa-based Jharkhandi Organisation for Human Rights (JOHAR) for five years from 1996. A year later, he came to Bagaicha near Ranchi where he remained until his arrest.