Tag: Father Stan Swamy

  • Friends & followers remember Father Stan Swamy

    He died waiting to be granted bail. He died with the tag, “India's oldest political prisoner.”

  • Geneva-based rights organisation confers posthumous award to Father Stan Swamy

    Express News Service

    BENGALURU: The Martin Ennals Foundation, Geneva has conferred the Human Rights Defenders award 2022 to Late Father Stanislas Swamy posthumously. “Father Stan was nominated to the Award in spring 2021, but he sadly passed away before it could reach him,” stated Chair of the Award Jury, Hans Thoolen.

    The 2022 Martin Ennals Award Ceremony will be held on June 2.

    Martin Ennals was a British human rights activist who served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He had co-founded the human rights organizations ARTICLE 19, International Alert and HURIDOCS.

    Fr Stan Swamy (1937-2021), the 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist who was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case in October 2020, died on July 5 last year. His association with the Indian Social Institute (ISI), Bengaluru goes back to 1975.

    “He was director, ISI for 15 years; from 1975 to 1986. Thereafter, he continued till 1991 as staff,” said Director, ISI, Fr Joseph Xavier. He said that the Martin Ennals Foundation has been in touch with him for the last few months to get more details and photographs of Stan Swamy. “Normally, the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders honours individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional commitment to defending and promoting human rights, despite the risks involved is given during their lifetime but in case of Stan, it is posthumous,” said Fr Xavier.

  • India’s harsh anti-terror law comes under rare scrutiny

    By Associated Press

    NEW DELHI: Mohammed Irfan was 24 and newly married. Business was brisk at his modest battery shop. And within two months he was expecting the birth of his first child.All seemed well, until a counterterrorism squad in August 2012 entered his store in Nanded, a city in India’s Maharashtra state, and arrested him for allegedly plotting to kill Indian politicians.For the first few months, he waited for India’s legal system to prove his innocence. But the prospects of an acquittal soon turned grim when he was charged under the country’s harsh anti-terror law.Irfan was finally released in June 2021 after an Indian court acknowledged he was wrongly jailed. By then, he had already spent nine years in prison.”Those nine years were no less than a death sentence,” he said.Irfan’s acquittal came as the anti-terror law faces intensified scrutiny from Indian courts and legal experts. The law allows authorities to designate someone as a terrorist and detain them without producing any incriminating evidence. It also has stringent requirements for granting bail, which means individuals often spend months, sometimes years, in jail without being found guilty.”A law to tackle terrorism is necessary, but its provisions are quite vague and can be used indiscriminately to crush dissent,” said Madan B. Lokur, a former justice on India’s Supreme Court. “In fact, it has been misused and abused.”In July, Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, a sitting Supreme Court judge, said the courts must act as the “first line of defense against the deprivation of liberty of citizens,” amplifying the debate over whether the law should continue in its current form.India’s home ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. The government argues that the law is necessary to fight terrorism. In 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament the law was essential to keep security agencies “one step ahead of terrorists.”But last month, while awaiting bail on medical grounds, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist died in judicial custody. He had been jailed since 2020 under the anti-terror law.The death of Father Stan Swamy touched a nerve.”How can an old, frail man who fought for people’s rights be accused of terrorism?” said Father Cedric Prakash, an activist who worked with Swamy for more than four decades.Known as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the anti-terror law was first introduced in 2008 by the now-opposition Congress party. In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government amended the law, allowing authorities to categorize individuals as terrorists. Previously, the designation was reserved only for organizations.Successive Indian governments have invoked the law, but recent years have seen it used with increasing frequency.Based on data from India’s National Crime Records Bureau, 1,948 people were arrested under the law in 2019 — an increase of nearly 37% from the previous year.The increased use, however, hasn’t led to many convictions and trials.Only 2.2% of cases registered under the law from 2016 to 2019 ended in a court conviction. Nearly 11% of cases were closed by the police for lack of evidence.On Tuesday, the government informed Parliament that just 22% of people arrested under the law from 2017 to 2019 were sent to trial. It said no charges had been filed so far in the remaining cases.”This is tragic,” Lokur, the former justice, said.Swamy was jailed alongside 15 other activists and academics. He maintained his innocence, saying he was targeted over his work and writings on caste injustice and the struggles faced by marginalized groups.But authorities alleged that those arrested had links to Maoist rebels and were detained “following due process of the law.” The Maoist rebels, also known as Naxalites, are active in several states and are considered the country’s biggest internal security threat.Carolyn Nash, the Asia advocacy director at rights watchdog Amnesty International, said Swamy’s death in custody was “a chilling and tragic example of how the UAPA facilitates the government’s human rights abuses” and was evidence of its “disproportionate and abusive use.”Some in India are calling for reform.Lokur stressed that police and investigators must be held accountable, and said heavy costs should be imposed on them for “frivolous arrests.””The denial of bail under the law certainly favors the state. This interpretation must be revisited,” he said. “The judiciary has to be proactive in this regard and must realize that it is dealing with cases of personal liberty which is being snatched away in some instances without any cause.”Others, some of whom have been arrested under the law, say accountability alone won’t be enough, and demand the law’s repeal.”A draconian law that erodes people’s civil liberties is not needed in a democracy,” said Asif Iqbal Tanha, a student leader jailed under the law who was released on rarely granted bail in June.Before his arrest in May last year, Tanha, 24, had participated in massive protests against the government’s controversial citizenship law which culminated in deadly riots in the Indian capital. Many activists were arrested in a sweeping crackdown for “inciting violence” and Tanha was charged under the anti-terror law.A year later, when the court granted him bail, it observed that dissent is not terrorism.”It was a vindication of sorts. But is that enough? I don’t think so,” Tanha said. “There is only one solution: The law must go.” 

  • Elgar case: HC withdraws praise for late Father Stan Swamy after NIA objects

    By Express News Service
    MUMBAI:  The Bombay High Court on Friday withdrew its oral praise for Late Father Stan Swamy and his work after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) objected to it.

    “We are also human beings and the news of Father Stan Swamy was sudden on July 5. The comment was not on the incarceration of Father Stan Swamy or arrest under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),” Justice S S Shinde of the Bombay High Court said. 

    “I had said so far as legal issues are concerned, that is different. Suppose you are hurt that I personally said something, I take those words back. Our endeavor is always to be balanced. We have never made the comments… But you see Mr Singh, we are also human beings and suddenly something happens like this…” 

    Anil Singh, the advocate appearing for the NIA had taken objections over the comment made by the High Court judges praising the work done by Father Stan Swamy.

    He said the comments were twisted by the media. During the posthumous bail hearing, the Shinde said he watched the “graceful funeral of Stan Swamy and considering the kind of services he rendered to the society, he had respect for his work.” 

    Meanwhile, Mihir Desai, the advocate representing Stan Swamy, said his death should be probed by the magistrate.

    Desai said the ex-principal of Stain Xavier College Father Frazer should be part of the magistrate inquiry panel as his next kin.

    The inquiry should be done as per human rights guidelines by a magistrate.

    Activists form human chain demanding justice

    Several activists, intellectuals, students and representatives of different social organisations came together at Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi on Friday to form a human chain, demanding justice for Father Stan Swamy.

    Despite heavy rains, people stood together with placards protesting against the alleged injustice. According to members of Jharkhand People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the event was a part of the national campaign, called by over 100 organisations, against the institutional murder of Stan Swamy, draconian laws like UAPA and the growing attacks on the right to dissent.

    “Despite heavy rain, more than 100 people participated to form the human chain at Albert Ekka Chowk seeking justice for Father Stan,” said the PUCL 

  • Ranchi: Despite heavy rains, activists form human chain seeking justice for Father Stan Swamy

    By Express News Service
    RANCHI: Several activists, intellectuals, students, representatives of different social organisations, came together at Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi on Friday to form a human chain seeking justice for Father Stan Swamy.

    Despite heavy rains, people stood together with placards protesting against the alleged injustice.

    According to the members of Jharkhand PUCL, the event was a part of the national campaign, called by more than 100 organisations, against the institutional murder of Stan Swamy, draconian laws like UAPA and growing attacks on the right to dissent.

    “Despite heavy rains, more than 100 people actively participated for form the human chain at Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi seeking justice for Father Stan Swamy,” said a PUCL member Arvind Avinash. He added that a memorandum will also be handed over to Governor Ramesh Bais seeking justice for Father Stan Swamy.

    The letter prepared by the activists’ demands following:

    Justice for Stan Swamy

    Repealing of UAPA, sedition act and other draconian laws

    Release all political prisoners

    Restore Right to Bail

    Accountability for filing false cases and Compensation to victims

    Jharkhand government should immediately withdraw all Patthalgadi cases against Stan Swamy and all others

    Jharkhand government should stop usage of UAPA and sedition act and end police repression.

  • Stan Swamy: Messiah for hundreds of undertrials died as one

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: Stan Swamy was instrumental in filing a PIL on behalf of youths belonging to SC/ST communities and others languishing in Jharkhand jails following cases being registered against them under the stringent sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act (CLA), 1908.

    In his PIL, Stan raised the pathetic situation of the undertrials. Hearing Swamy’s PIL in 2018, the Jharkhand High Court called for detailed information on under-trials languishing in the prisons. According to Father PM Tony, who spent a few years in Swamy-run NGO ‘Bagaicha,’ over 3,000 people, mostly tribals, are languishing in jails for many years due to the slow legal process.

    ALSO READ | Punish those who framed Stan Swamy: Opposition writes to President Kovind

    “After coming across media reports, Stan was moved as he was deeply concerned about the Adivasis. He wanted to know how we could help and discussed the issue with his colleagues,” said Father Tony. Finally, somebody suggested that a research study could be done on such prisoners and their situation in Jharkhand, he added. “Since I had just completed my Ph.D. and returned from studies; Stan asked me if I was interested to take up the study. I agreed to it and a ‘Bagaicha’ Research Team was formed. It did six months of rigorous fieldwork.”

    Before the studies, Father Tony said, they also tried to access Jharkhand jails and approached the IG Prisons who neither give any appointment nor did he respond. “Then an RTI was filed, asking jail authorities to provide details of the undertrials who were booked under the CLA and similar sections dealing with state repression, but no proper reply was given.” 

    Then they contacted Jeetan Marandi and Damodar Turi who were arrested on similar charges and released on bail, he added. Through these two people, the Bagaicha research team succeeded in tracing several other prisoners who were “falsely implicated and arrested” but were on bail. “We succeeded in tracing some of them and interviewed 102 persons who were out on bail.”  Tony said that after proper research, a report was published in 2015 on the basis of which the PIL was filed.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Punish those who framed Stan Swamy: Opposition writes to President Kovind

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Leaders of major Opposition parties on Tuesday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention in holding accountable those responsible for foisting false cases on tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, who passed away under custody the previous day leaving the nation horrified. 

    The letter was jointly signed by Sonia Gandhi (Cong), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool), Hemant Soren (JMM), H D Deve Gowda (JD-S), Farooq Abdullah (NC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), D Raja (CPI) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M).

    “We are urging your immediate intervention as the President of India to direct ‘your government’ to act against those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment. They must be held accountable. It is now incumbent that all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and other detenues under politically motivated cases, misusing draconian laws like UAPA, sedition etc be released,” the letter read.

    Meanwhile, a US forensic agency said incriminating evidence was planted on Bima Koregaon case accused Surendra Gadling’s computer. It had earlier claimed to have found evidence of activist Rona Wilson’s computer being hacked to plant 30 documents to frame him in the case.

  • India asserts detention of Stan Swamy legal as UNHCR feels disturbed

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  With the likes of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) criticising the handling of the Stan Swamy case, the Ministry of External Affairs asserted that the activist was arrested and detained following due process under law. 

    “Because of the specific nature of charges against him, his bail applications were rejected by the courts. Authorities in India act against violations of law and not against legitimate exercise of rights. All such actions are strictly in accordance with the law,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. “India remains committed to promotion and protection of human rights of all its citizens.” 

    Earlier in the day, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that it was disturbed at the death of the tribal activist. “We are saddened & disturbed by the death of 84-year-old human rights defender Father #StanSwamy, after prolonged pre-trial detention. With COVID-19, it is even more urgent that States release every person detained without sufficient legal basis,” the UN body tweeted.

    A note was also released by the spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Liz Throssel which noted that the 84-year-old activist was held in pre-trial detention without bail. High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and the UN’s independent experts have repeatedly raised the cases of Swamy and other human rights defenders associated with the same events with India over the past three years and urged their release from pre-trial detention. Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, also tweeted on Swamy’s death, terming the development devastating.

  • Modi government rejects criticism over Father Stan Swamy’s death, says his detention was as per ‘due process under law’

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday rejected mounting international criticism over the death of rights activist Father Stan Swamy, and said the due process of law was followed in his case and that the authorities act against violations of law and do not restrain legitimate exercise of rights.

    Asserting that India remains committed to the promotion and protection of human rights of all its citizens, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the country’s democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.

    Eighty-four-year-old Stan Swamy, who was arrested last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, died in a Mumbai hospital on Monday.

    ALSO READ: Broaden definition of custodial death, say lawyers after Stan Swamy dies in hospital

    India’s assertion came as UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and human rights officials of the US and European Union (EU) expressed concern over the death of the Jesuit priest and rights activist.

    Noting that Father Stan Swamy was arrested and detained by the National Investigation Agency following due process under law, the ministry said because of the specific nature of charges against him, his bail applications were rejected by courts.

    “Authorities in India act against violations of law and not against legitimate exercise of rights. All such actions are strictly in accordance with the law,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

    ALSO READ: Funeral service for Stan Swamy held at Mumbai church; his friends recall his love for tribals

    His comments came in response to media queries relating to reactions over the demise of Stan Swamy.

    In view of Father Stan Swamy’s ailing health, the Bombay High Court had allowed his medical treatment at a private hospital where he was receiving all possible medical attention since May 28, Bagchi said.

    The MEA spokesperson said Swamy’s health and medical treatment was being closely monitored by the courts and he passed away on July 5 following medical complications.

    ALSO READ: United Nations ‘disturbed’ by death of priest and rights activist Stan Swamy in jail

    “India’s democratic and constitutional polity is complemented by an independent judiciary, a range of national and state-level human rights commissions that monitor violations, a free media and a vibrant and vocal civil society,” Bagchi said.

    “India remains committed to promotion and protection of human rights of all its citizens,” he added.

    Earlier, the UN body on human rights said it was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the death of the activist in pre-trial detention.

    ALSO READ: United Nations ‘disturbed’ by death of priest and rights activist Stan Swamy in jail

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bachelet and the UN’s independent experts have repeatedly raised the cases of Swamy and 15 other human rights defenders with the government of India over the past three years and urged their release from detention, it said.

    “We are deeply saddened and disturbed by the death of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy, a human rights defender and Jesuit priest, in Mumbai yesterday, following his arrest in October 2020 under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” Liz Throssell, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.

    “Father Stan had been held in pre-trial detention without bail since his arrest, charged with terrorism-related offences in relation to demonstrations that date back to 2018,” she said in a statement.

    ALSO READ: United Nations ‘disturbed’ by death of priest and rights activist Stan Swamy in jail

    “In light of the continued, severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more urgent that States, including India, release every person detained without a sufficient legal basis, including those detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views. This would be in line with the Indian judiciary’s calls to decongest the prisons,” she said.

    Throssell said the High Commissioner called on the Government of India to ensure that no one is detained for exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly.

    Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, termed Swamy’s death as “devastating” and claimed he was imprisoned on “false charges of terrorism”.

    ALSO READ: Stan Swamy death – Activists express anguish, call for fixing accountability for ‘custodial murder’

    “The news from India today is devastating. Human Rights Defender and Jesuit priest Fr. Stan Swamy has died in custody, nine months after his arrest on false charges of terrorism. Jailing Human Rights Defenders is inexcusable,” said Lawlor.

    European Union Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore too expressed concerns.

  • Broaden definition of custodial death, say lawyers after Stan Swamy dies in hospital

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The term custodial death is usually used in connection with physical torture inflicted on prisoners by police, prison or other authorities and the death of priest-activist Stan Swamy does not technically qualify as one, several lawyers said.

    They also stressed on the need to widen the definition of the term.

    Debate on what constitutes custodial death has intensified after the 84-year-old cleric, who was arrested under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, breathed his last in a Mumbai hospital on Monday.

    His death was announced in the Bombay High Court, where he was fighting for bail on health grounds.

    ALSO READ: Funeral service for Stan Swamy held at Mumbai church; his friends recall his love for tribals

    The Jesuit priest, who was arrested for his alleged role in the 2017 Bhima Koegaon case, had been on a ventilator since Sunday after his health worsened rapidly.

    Prominent lawyers expressed the hope that institutions entrusted with the responsibilities of protecting every individual will ensure that an anti-terror law like the UAPA is not misused by security agencies, and people arrested under it are not kept in custody “indefinitely”.

    “Stan Swamy was in the custody of the court. In past, the term custodial death has been used in connection with physical torture on prisoners by the police, prison authority, or any other authority. Stan Swamy was hospitalised and getting treatment in custody,” said senior advocate Rebecca John.

    ALSO READ: United Nations ‘disturbed’ by death of priest and rights activist Stan Swamy in jail

    “I would like to broaden the definition of custodial death, which has had a narrow definition so far because as he (Stan Swamy) was admittedly suffering from a life-threatening illness and hospitalised in custody, neither our prison system nor our agencies and courts thought that it is necessary to release him on bail,” she added.

    In her view, the death of the priest-activist, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and had also tested positive for Covid, has many important lessons.

    According to Geeta Luthra, also a senior advocate, his death signifies a “failure of our system”.

    ALSO READ: Journalists, rights activists remember Stan Swamy as ‘stoic and courageous man’

    Describing it as “extremely disheartening”, she said, “We allowed him to die in custody he was in hospital because his condition had worsened so much that the risk of him dying was looming over our heads.”

    Every person, Luthra stressed, deserves pre-trial bail.

    “You may agree or disagree with any human being, but surely, they deserve liberty till the matter is pending in court. UAPA is being used too casually and the fallout of this will be the liberty of innocent citizens,” she said.”

    “If a person is under trial, the courts should follow the principle of bail and not jail,” she said.

    ALSO READ: Stan Swamy death – Activists express anguish, call for fixing accountability for ‘custodial murder’

    John said Swamy, who had to fight even to get a sipper and a straw to enable him to drink water, was not provided medical treatment on time.

    She said any individual, if on the wrong side of the law, needs to be punished.

    At the same time, institutions need to ensure they are provided with medical aid as and when necessary.

    “The need is to see how this law is being misused and how you cannot keep people in custody indefinitely without trial…,” John said.

    Swamy’s lawyer Mihir Desai said Swamy was implicated in a fabricated case.

    ALSO READ: Stan Swamy breathes his last fighting for bail, people close to him cry institutional murder

    “We have lost him and, in that sense, we have failed him. But we must carry on the fight that he believed in,” the Mumbai-based lawyer said.

    The Elgar Parishad case is related to inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of Pune.

    The case was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on January 24 last year.

    The agency will formally inform the trial court about the death of Swamy and the charges against him would be “abated”.

    The cleric was the sixteenth person to be arrested in the case last October.

    OPINION: There is freedom, but no mercy

    People in the case have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA.

    The NIA has alleged that Swamy was in contact with “conspirators” — Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde — to further the group’s activities.

    It also alleged that he had received funds through an associate for furthering their agenda.

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

    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.

    ALSO READ: We want to see him one last time – Stan Swamy’s family members mourn his death

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

    “I have never been to Bhima Koregaon for which I am being made an accused,” he said.

    He added that he had asked for questioning through video conference and hoped that better “human sense” would prevail.

    “…what is happening to me is not something unique 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.