Human rights activist Father Stan Swamy, who was incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad case, passed away as a pretrial prisoner after suffering a cardiac arrest, on Monday, 5 July.
The demise of the 84-year-old, who was suffering from Parkinson's disease and awaiting bail on medical grounds, came one day ahead of his bail hearing.
The tribal rights activist was jailed in Mumbai's Taloja Jail since October 2020 under the widely contentious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and had no substantiated charges established against him till his final day.
During his last bail hearing on 21 May, Swamy appeared before the Bombay High Court via video call – a figure of a person who had been systematically stripped of his right to life and liberty.
In his plea for seeking release, Swamy submitted before the court, when he came to jail, whole systems of his body were very functional. However, during his eight months of incarceration, there had been a steady regression of “whatever his body functions were”.
The activist, who had dedicated his life to fighting for marginalised communities in the country, died imprisoned under a deeply arbitrary criminal charge, and due to the apathy of courts, and many have not strayed from calling it a case of judicial murder.
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