Father Stan Swamy: Silenced in death

“What is happening to me is not something unique; it is the broader process that is taking place all over the country. The State government could be held singularly responsible for being a silent bystander, allowing a pathetic prison system to bring several of the Bhima Koregaon victims, including Father Stan Swamy, to the brink of death. From the moment the priest’s health began to decline in jail, he asked the special court for bail on the grounds that an overcrowded prison would make him more vulnerable to the coronavirus, to which the NIA replied: “The accused, under the garb of the current situation on account of the global COVID-19 pandemic, is trying to take an undue benefit of the situation….” And yet, in all these months, the NIA did not seek a day’s custody to interrogate Father Stan Swamy. Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, who took care of Father Stan Swamy while he was in hospital, said: “The Maoist accusation is absolutely ridiculous. In a curt statement issued on July 6, 2021, it said: “Father Stan Swamy was arrested and detained by the National Investigation Agency following due process under law.