The 84-year-old tribal activist and Jesuit priest, Fr Stan Swamy, arrested Under anti-terror law, passed away on Monday. This was announced by his lawyer in the Bombay High Court on Monday. The priest had been on a ventilator since his health worsened on Sunday.
Fr Swamy and others 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.
Lok Sabha MP, Sashi Tharoor, tweeted that “Fr Stand Swamy was a humanitarian and a man of God whom our government could not treat with humanity.”
Expressing his deep sense of pain and aguish, Fr Jerry Cutinha SJ Provincial of Jamshedpur Jesuit Province, said, “Fr Stan worked among Adivasis, Dalits and other marginalised communities so that poor may have life and life in full, with dignity and honour. The Society of Jesus recommits itself to take forward the legacy of Fr Stan in its mission of justice and reconciliation.”
Fr Stan was arrested under an anti-terror law in the Elgar Parishad case last year, and jailed in Mumbai, was being treated at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai following a court order on May 28.
The case relates to an event on December 31, 2017 in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune, which was followed by violence and arson that left one person dead. Investigators claim that activists at the event, an Elgar Parishad meet, had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that led to violence the next day. Fr Stan Swamy was arrested from his home in Jharkhand capital Ranchi by a team of NIA officials from Delhi.
Last week, Fr Stan Swamy had filed a fresh plea for bail in the High Court, challenging the stringent conditions for bail to an accused charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)Act.
Fr Stan Swamy, who had worked for tribals in Jharkhand for over five decades, was charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with links to Naxals, especially the banned CPI (Maoists).