As his bail plea was being heard, Stan Swamy, 84, who used constitutional rights to assist Adivasis, Dalits, undertrials for half a century, died. A Jesuit priest, Swamy was #NIA’s 16th & oldest, arrest in the #BhimaKoregaon case. @ChitrangadaC's profile article-14.com/post/why-an-ag…
“In Father Stan, I found a compassionate person who wanted dignity and self-respect for all Indians,” said Damodar Turi, who helped start an anti-displacement advocacy in 2006 in Jharkhand with people like Swamy. “An ally of the oppressed, from the streets to the courts.”
With no substantive response from central or state govts, Swamy & Turi's research team mapped undertrials in Jharkhand prisons. Travelling, filing right-to-information requests—most unanswered—in each dist, their 2016 report recorded lives of 102 #UAPA undertrials statewide.
The undertrials were overwhelmingly Adivasis & Dalits, whose cases languished for up to 10 years. About 59% of households of undertrials in the report earned less than Rs 3,000 per month and were forced to sell assets, such as goats, to meet bail conditions or legal expenses.
Nationalist Congress Party MP @supriya_sule, in whose home district lies #Bhima-Koregaon, once said: “We should be giving such people respect and learning from them, not putting them in jail”.
An April 2021 report by leading US digital forensic company offers proof of key evidence in #BhimaKoregaon case, 22 files on accused Rona Wilson's laptop, being planted. This evidence led to #StanSwamy's arrest. Read our story about that hack here. article-14.com/post/in-bhima-…
“The mahaul [environment] is that if you raise questions & find facts, you are anti-development. If you are anti-development, you are anti-government. If you are anti-government, you are anti-national. That is the logic being followed here.” #StanSwamy to @ChitrangadaC , 2018
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