What is Responsible For Father Stan Swamy's Death? Ill Health or State Apathy?
Leaving behind an unfinished legal battle against the NIA, the dreadful UAPA laws, and a system that has been trying to crush dissent mercilessly, Father Stan Swamy passed away at Mumbai's Holy Family Hospital. This 84-year-old Jesuit priest who had been working for tribal rights in Jharkhand was one of those who were arrested on terror charges in the Bhima Koregaon case. Given his old age and comorbidities that included a heart condition, Parkinson's disease, hearing loss in both ears, and physical injuries from falls that he had taken during his imprisonment, Swamy had applied for bail. Even though the NIA didn't seek his custody for interrogation, they kept him lodged in a jail for close to nine months and opposed his bail twice. In fact, last year, when Swamy had applied for bail on humanitarian grounds citing his susceptibility to coronavirus, the NIA had gone on to say that Swamy was taking undue benefit of the pandemic to seek bail.