Deepali Kalia-
Father Stan Swamy, an Octogenarian tribal rights activist and an undertrial prisoner in the Bhima Koregoan Case passed away on 5th July at 1:30 pm, a month after the Court had ordered to admit him to a private hospital in Mumbai.
On 8th October Father Stan Swamy was apprehended by the National Investigation Agency and charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and offences listed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly promoting the cause of the banned The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) through his various civil rights organizations. He along with 15 other human rights activists have been accused in the case.
When the Bench comprising of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar at around 2:30 pm on 5th July took up the matter of Stan Swami’s bail application, Senior Advocate Mihir Desai, Swamy’s counsel stated that the doctor who was treating Swamy wanted to say something.
“It is with a very heavy heart I have to inform you that Father Stan Swamy has passed away”, Dr. Dsouza of Holy Family hospital Mumbai informed the Court.
“On Saturday he went into cardiac arrest at 4.30 am, we couldn’t revive him”, the doctor added and said that Swamy succumbed to his death at around 1:30 pm today.
“With all humility at our command, we are sorry to know that he has passed away. We are shocked. We passed orders for his hospital admission on the first day”, the Bench stated.
“He was a priest. He doesn’t have a family. The Jesuits are his only family”, Desai told the Court, who directed that body of Father Swamy be handed over to Father Francis, the retired Principal of St Xavier’s College.
As Stan Swamy had succumbed to his death in custody, the Bench directed the authorities to conduct a postmortem examination on his body and submit an autopsy report before it.
Father Stan Swamy had been suffering from Parkinson disease and other geriatric ailments such as hearing loss in both ears, intense pain due to lumbar spondylosis, etc.
Swamy’s condition had progressively worsened in Taloja Central prison where he had spent the last eight months before he was admitted to the hospital. While undergoing treatment at the hospital he had also tested positive for COVID-19.
