Day after Stan Swamy’s death, oppn leaders demand release of all those jailed in Bhima Koregaon case

A day after the death of tribal activist Stan Swamy at a Mumbai hospital, leaders of ten major opposition parties on Tuesday urged President Ram Nath Kovind to intervene in the issue and direct the government to act against those responsible for “foisting false cases against him”.

The leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, wrote a letter to Kovind, saying Swamy was denied treatment for his various ailments including debilitating Parkinson’s. “Only after a nationwide campaign was conducted that even a sipper to drink liquids was made available to him,” they said.

The 84-year-old priest-activist, who had been in custody since last year following his arrest under the anti-terror law, in the Elgar Parishad case, died on Monday, in the middle of his fight for bail on health grounds.

Expressing their anguish and deep grief over the death of Swamy, the opposition leaders pointed out that numerous appeals made to shift him out of the over-crowded Taloja jail that had seen a huge rise in Covid cases went unheeded. “His appeals for bail and being sent home, too, were rejected. Thanks to the Bombay High Court’s intervention he was admitted to a private hospital when his condition started deteriorating after he was infected with Covid. But it was too late to prevent his death in custody,” the letter said.

The Jesuit priest had been on ventilator support since Sunday, when his health worsened drastically. He was being treated at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai following a court order on May 28.

The leaders demanded that action be taken against those responsible for Swamy’s “continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment”.

“It is now incumbent that all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and other detenues under publicity motivated cases, misusing draconian laws like UAPA, Sedition etc, be released forthwith," the letter said.

DMK president M.K. Stalin, JMM leader Hemant Soren, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, JPA leader Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, CPI leader D. Raja, CPI(M) leader Sitara Yechury are the other signatories of the letter.