On 5th July 2021, India’s human rights movement lost one of its dogged and principled workers, Fr. Stanislaus Lourduswamy, popularly known as Stan Swamy. He breathed his last in Holy Family Hospital, Mumbai. Coincidentally, at that time his bail petition was being heard by the Bombay High Court. 

He was in Taloja prison as an accused in Bhima Koregaon case; he was the oldest person to have been accused of terrorism by NIA and was in prison under the draconian UAPA in which the hearing is not time-bound and the person can be incarcerated for long time, without any tangible reason. Authorities are not duty-bound to present the evidence of the crime in a particular time-frame. He was arrested nearly nine months ago.

Bhima Koregaon incident took place on January 1, 2019. As thousands of Dalits were returning after paying homage to those who lost their life in battle against Peshwa army in 1818, they were attacked. This battle had taken place between the Peshwa Baji Rao’s upper caste army against the East India Company’s army constituted mainly by Mahar community. Mahars saw it as a defeat of casteist forces and celebrated the victory; a victory pole was erected and annually Dalits started visiting the place as a mark of defeat of

Brahmanical forces. Babasaheb Ambedkar had also visited the place in 1928. It became an ideological identity booster for the Dalit community.
In 2018 as it was the second centenary of the event, lakhs of Dalits visited Bhima Koregaon to show their solidarity with the cause of Dalit upliftment. After the attack on Dalits, initial FIR was filed against Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, two Hindutva leaders. Elgar

Parishad was organized in Pune by Justice P.B. Sawant and Justice Kolse Patil.

Later NIA took over the case from the state government and started arresting people Like Sudha Bhardwaj, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Feirera on the ground that the violence was planned by the Maoists. The charge was that they had planned to overthrow the Government and kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Those arrested have been given the label of urban Naxals, the ones who are supporting the Naxal activities from urban centers.

The evidence has not been presented by police so far. Meanwhile, contrary evidence has surfaced. As per the US consulting firm ‘Arsenal Consulting’ letters were planted in laptop of Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling. The Court has not taken notice of this. The only person to get six-month bail on health ground has been revolutionary poet Varavara Rao. In case of Stan Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he was denied even a straw sipper for long time.

From Jail he wrote a moving poem ‘caged birds can sing’. He stated in his letter from jail that he was being helped by prison inmates to take care of his daily needs and that in prison all his body systems were deteriorating. Without giving bail, the Court permitted him to be treated in a community hospital. Meanwhile, he had Covid infection which left him weaker and more debilitated. His death has been mourned by most of the civil rights groups not only from India but also from abroad. United Nations Human Rights body (Nadine Maenza) and European Union representative for human rights (Eamon Gilmore) expressed deep sorrow and concern on the whole issue.

Fr. Stan was working among the Adivasis of Jharkhand. The BJP regime was taking away the forest land and passing it on to corporate houses to exploit natural resource. Thousands of Adivasis were put behind bars for opposing this move of the Government. Fr. Stan stood tall in supporting the cause of these marginalized sections of society. “If you question this form of development, you are anti-development, which is equal to anti-government, which is equal to anti-national. A simple equation. This is why the government calls me a Maoist, although I am completely opposed to Maoist methods, and has nothing to do with them”. He was part of the team which authored the report in 2016, “Deprived of Rights over Natural Resources, Impoverished Adivasis Get Prison.” His life was very simple. He used to travel in ordinary rail compartment to save money. He lived on frugal means, totally committed to the rights of Adivasis among whom he lived.

Even from prison he wrote more about those who have been lodged in jail without their cases being brought up in courts, basically being made to rot, incarcerated for raising their voice for justice.
The great loss to human rights movement reminds us about the state of methods used by the state and the lack of sensitivity of judiciary in dealing with the likes of Stan Swamy who have been put behind bars on the pretext of plan to murder the Prime Minster. It is to silence the voices of dissent, to undermine those who speak up for the marginalized, and those who speak up for those who are standing last in the queue. 

We are living in times when policies are being manipulated to please those who are standing in the front rows of the queue. We are living in times where on one hand organizations like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram have been floated by the RSS to co-opt Adivasis into the agenda of Hindu nation and on the other those working for the just rights of Adivasis, like Fr. Stan, are being implicated by planting papers in their laptops.

The only comparison I can think for this great person are Saints who were articulating the morality of Justice. The institutional murder of Fr. Stan on one hand reminds us as to how saints were persecuted by the powers-that-be and on the other it has diminished us as a nation. It is time that we need to form joint platforms to protect justice for all marginalized sections. His life should make us stand against the prevalent injustices. That will be the fitting tribute to him.