Who Was Father Stan Swamy, The 84-Year-Old Activist Who Died In Custody Without A Trial

An 84-year-old rights activist and Jesuit priest detained for nine months without trial under Indian anti-terrorism laws breathed his last on July 5.

Father Stan Swamy, who campaigned for marginalised tribal communities, was arrested last year for allegedly inciting violence between different Indian castes in 2018.

He was denied bail before despite suffering from Parkinson's and other ailments. He was admitted to hospital in May with coronavirus and suffered a cardiac arrest over the weekend.

Detained under UAPA

Swami had been detained under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which effectively allows people to be held without trial indefinitely.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has made use of the law to have campaigners, journalists, students and others arrested, in what critics say is an attempt to silence dissent.

In February, the government said that almost 6,000 people were arrested under the UAPA between 2016 and 2019 and that 132 were convicted.

A life dedicated to Adivasis

Swamy studied theology and did a Masters in Sociology at the University of Manila after joining the Jesuit order. Later he studied at Brussels where he struck up a friendship with Archbishop Holder Camara whose work among Brazil's poor influenced him.

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From 1975 till 1986, he served as Director of the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute at Bangalore

However, Jharkhand and work among the poor tribals of the state kept calling Swamy and he came back some thirty years ago and took up work among the Adivasis.

While working among them, he took up the causes of tribals marginalised after their lands had been taken over for dams, mines and townships, often without their consent.

Father Stan tirelessly served on various issues of the Adivasi communities for their upliftment and welfare by taking up issues related to their constitutional rights, land rights, forest rights, labour rights and representation of the community members in the state of Jharkhand, Solomon said.

He was vocal about the "indiscriminate" arrest of thousands of young adivasis by investigating agencies after labelling them as 'Naxals' and had filed a public interest petition in the Jharkhand High Court against the state, asking for all such undertrial prisoners to be released on a personal bond, and also for conducting a speedy trial.

Swamy while working among the tribals, also started raising questions on the non-implementation of the 5th Schedule of the Constitution which provides for setting up Tribe Advisory Councils where tribals are members to run the affairs of tribal areas.

While this made him popular among the Adivasis, it also pitted him against strong political forces.

Bhima-Koregaon violence

Two days before NIA took him into custody in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, the Jesuit priest claimed stringent laws such as UAPA were being misused to arrest tribals "indiscriminately" in a video message.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on October 9, last year had filed a charge-sheet against eight people, including Father Stan Swamy, for their alleged involvement in inciting a mob to violence in Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1, 2018.

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Swamy, a cancer patient who also suffered from the Parkisons disease, was arrested from his home in Ranchi on October 8, 2020. Despite protestations that he had never been to Bhima Koregaon, he was still taken to Mumbai where he was produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.

He is possibly the oldest person to be charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), officials had then said.

Besides, he was convenor of the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), which the authorities dubbed a frontal organisation of the CPI(Maoist).

They said literature, propaganda material of the CPI (Maoist) and documents related to communications for furthering the group's programmes were seized from his possession.

'Planted material'

Swamy on his part had alleged that material had been planted on his computer and he was being falsely accused.

Ahead of his arrest, Swamy had posted a video saying the NIA had been interrogating him and had questioned him for 15 hours during a span of five days.

"I have never been to Bhima Koregaon for which I am being accused," he had said.

"What is happening to me is not something unique or happening to me alone, it is a broader process taking place all over the country. We all are aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders are all put in jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India," Swamy had said in the video.

He had said he is part of "the process" and in a way happy to be so because he was not a silent spectator and is part of the game.

"I am ready to pay the price whatever be it," Swamy had said.