One hundred days of unjust imprisonment for Fr Stan Swamy

January 15 marked one hundred days since 83-year-old Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy was taken into custody from his residence in Ranchi (Jharkhand).

Jan 15, 2021

NEW DELHI: January 15 marked one hundred days since 83-year-old Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy was taken into custody from his residence in Ranchi (Jharkhand). The agents of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) took him on Oct 8; since then he has been locked up in Taloja prison near Mumbai (Maharashtra).

Fr Stan is accused of breaking the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (Uapa) for his alleged involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon incidents, which broke out on January 2018, and for his alleged links with Maoist armed groups. The truth is, he has never been to Bhima-Koregaon. Another 15 human rights activists have been jailed on these trumped up charges; some of them have been languishing in prison for more than two years. The real perpetrators of the violence were freed thanks to their close ties to the regime that now rules the nation.

The UAPA must be abolished immediately and without conditions. In an interview published on November 25 - the eve of "Constitution Day" - on The Wire, former chairman of the Legal Commission A.P. Shah cited a Supreme Court ruling in April 2019. It concerns the Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali case and says "that an accused must remain in custody throughout the trial" if he is prosecutable under the UAPA. The verdict also states that "the courts must assume that any accusation made in the report (Fir) is correct and that the accused has the burden of denying the charges".

This decision is a complete denial of Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to personal freedom. For Judge Shah, bail is the rule and prison the exception; apparently, the Supreme Court has made prison the rule and bail the exception. According to Shah, "it appears that we live in an undeclared state of emergency". He then added that today "the courts lack humanity and concern for the fundamental human rights of the accused".

In this regard, Shah cited the example of Varavara Rao and Fr. Swamy. He was amazed that the NIA court took two weeks to decide whether the priest could be granted a straw to drink and eat: these are very strong statements from one of the country's best-known jurists.

To put things in perspective, on November 26 the appeal presented to a special court by the lawyers of Fr. Swamy to get him a straw was postponed to December 4th: he needs it as a patient with Parkinson's disease. The NIA replied that it cannot return such personal belongings because it never confiscated it.

Fr Stan then received the straw; however, on 14 December his bail request was once again rejected by the NIA. On January 12, another hearing began with the presentation of the arguments of both parties. The trial debate should go on for a few more days: Nobody can know if Fr. Stan will be released!

In addition to his age, Fr. Stan is also weak due to some physical problems. However, he does not complain, and retains his profound spirituality and positivity. His communications with the outside world are regulated and monitored; each of them is deeply moving. Just before Christmas he wrote a very touching poem. An extract of it reads:

 

“Prison life, a great leveller

Inside the daunting prison gates

All belongings taken away but for the bare essentials

‘You’ comes first ‘I’ comes after ‘We’ is the air one breathes

Nothing is mine

Nothing is yours

Everything is ours

No leftover food thrown away

All shared with the birds of the air!”––Asia News