NE Brief
Denied bail even on Medical ground; Rev. Fr. Stan Swamy dies in his hospital bed
Current Updates | NE Brief | NECARF Rep | 05-Jul-2021
Late Fr. Stan Swamy, the True Servant of God
The 84 year old Catholic priest and tribal rights activists Stan Swamy passed away on July 5, 2021 afternoon, two days after he was placed on ventilator support in Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital. He had tested positive for COVID-19 and was shifted out of the Taloja central prison to a private hospital over a month ago.
Soon after his death, Fr. Swamy’s Lawyer Mihir Desai demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter. He said, he has no complaint against Holy Family Hospital or the high court, but held the National Investigation Agency and the Taloja central prison responsible for accelerating Swamy’s death. Swamy was denied medical care for several days before he was finally moved to Holy Family Hospital on May 30, when he had complained of fever and weakness.
According to his Lawyer, Swamy had been cured of COVID-19 some weeks back but the infection had left a lasting impact on his vital organs. Desai insisted that the delay in the treatment led to Swamy’s death. As per the procedure laid down under Section 176 (1A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a judicial magistrate’s inquiry has to be carried out in case of a custodial death. Additional solicitor general Anil Singh told the court that the state is not “foreclosing the mandated inquires”.
Fr. Swamy was arrested on October 8 last year for his alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad case, which has been described as a witchhunt against critics of the government. He was the 16th person to be arrested in the case and also the oldest. At the time of his arrest, he was frail and ailing, and had an advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease. Swamy, who had difficulty in even sipping water from a glass, was dependent on co-prisoners to go about his daily life in jail. In the months that followed, Swamy had trouble going about with his daily activities at Taloja jail, before his condition deteriorated in May. He was finally shifted to Holy Family Hospital only on the intervention of Bombay High Court.
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