UAPA

P. M. TONY LOTIKA SINGHA 04.21.2022
Radical priest Stan Swamy was one of India’s leading social activists. Modi’s government is to blame for his death while awaiting trial on bogus terror charges, but the clampdown won’t snuff out the inspiring legacy of Swamy’s work with Adivasi communities. https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/narendra-modi-india-false-charges-terrorism-stan-swamy-adivasi-community

Institutional Murder of Fr. Stan Swamy: Ten Opposition Leaders Write to the President Demanding Accountability https://indianexpress.com/article/india/opposition-leaders-demand-action-against-those-responsible-for-foisting-false-cases-on-stan-swamy-7391895/  Act against those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment. They must be held accountable. It is now incumbent that all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and other detenues under politically motivated cases, misusing draconian laws like UAPA, Sedition etc, be released forthwith,” the Opposition leaders have said in their letter to Kovind.

S Sen : It's worth noting that apart from the two usual suspects - Mayawati and Kejriwal, two more - Uddhav Thackeray and, even, Akhilesh Yadav, have, this time, opted to opt out.

 https://gaurilankeshnews.com/a-bharat-ratna-dies-an-undertrial/ 

Leo Saldanha: As a student in the 1980s, I had the privilege of participating in various discussions on social change at the Indian Social Institute. Stan was there at that time. He would hang out with various groups, gently nudging them on fine-tuning their efforts in engaging with social reform. . Stan’s precision as a trainer and researcher on advancing social transformation was in step with his compassionate determination for securing fundamental freedoms of the most vulnerable. For securing which he stridently argued implementing Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights is a minimum. He gravitated to struggles of the Adivasis in central India, Jharkand in particular, and helped organize them to fight for their rights over their land, over their forests, over their rivers, over their bodies, to protect their cultures and their memories of the place. 

Stan fought for rights of undertrials. In the end he died an undertrial. This blot on our nation’s consciousness can never be erased. Stan Swamy led a saintly life, peaceful to the core, without any animosity.

MKSS Statement on Fr. Stan’s death

Date: 7 July, 2021

The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) is deeply distressed by the death of Fr. Stan Swamy, who spent his entire life in the service of Jharkhand’s adivasis and other marginalized communities in India. What adds to the tragedy is the irony that a person like Fr. Stan Swamy who strived to improve the plight of under-trials died as one. The state has failed Fr. Stan Swamy in the worst possible way.

It seems clear that Fr Stan Swamy was targeted and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to harass and persecute him. This was to make sure that it served as an example to all Human Rights workers and defenders, so that they could be booked under terrorism charges, with impunity. It makes it even more outrageous that an octogenarian suffering from Parkinson's disease should be treated in this manner and subjected to inhuman conditions. This impacts not only the specific case of Fr Stan, but democracy itself.

It is pertinent to remember the observation of the Delhi High Court while granting bail recently to 3 CAA protestors booked under the UAPA: “We are constrained to express that it seems, that in its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the State, the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred. If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy”.

The Authorities lost all human decency in denying Fr Stan access to basic medical necessities including sippers to drink liquids. Having arrested Fr. Stan Swamy on October 8th, 2020, the NIA did not even ask for custody for interrogation even once, let alone charge him. He was in judicial custody the entire time, without the trial even beginning. He therefore got no opportunity to prove his innocence. Being booked under UAPA he could not be given bail and as a result, for someone as ill as Fr. Stan Swamy, this process was practically a death sentence, without trial.

 As an organisation that has worked to improve accountability of the state, the MKSS demands that these draconian laws be reviewed. Fr. Stan Swamy’s case needs many kinds of critical examination to bring closure to the life and work of a person who strived for the poor and marginalised all his life. In a real democracy there has to be constant vigilance to hold state excesses and the criminal justice system, including intelligence agencies, accountable. Unjust laws need to repealed to protect the rule of law itself. The best possible way to remember Fr. Stan Swamy, who sought criminal justice reform, is to make his dream a reality