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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

From the former principal of St Stephen's College :

I AM HAPPY FOR FR. STAN SWAMY... Also for the present dispensation, for I am a patriot.

Fr. Stan Swamy is no more. I feel awkward about mourning his death. Instead, I feel a strange sort of happiness. An eerie sort of relief, if you don't mind.

Who are we to mourn his death? We, who dare not utter a word, fearing for our skin?
Who are we to feel sorry for the loss of this noble soul, when our concerns rarely go beyond the stomach?

Surely, Fr. Stan must have been somebody!

At 84, and unsteady on his feet with Parkinson's, he was such a threat to national security that he had to be shut up in a prison.

What was the threat he posed?

Well, very grave indeed, if you think of it. He sympathised with those who were struggling for their basic rights and dignity. Can there be anything more subversive?

I feel sorry for those of us who are left behind. We may not be shut up in prisons. There is no need to. We are our own prisons.

So, we survive like scarecrows. But prisons too have their days; and then they will be no more.

A new sun will arise, and mock its debris.

There is only one practical problem left now.
How will they dispose of the body of Fr. Stan?
He is still an accused under the UAPA. He is not entitled to bail. Unless the court grants bail to his dead body, how will he be buried or cremated? Only one thing is lawful; his body has to be despatched to the prison, under armed escort.
Let a speedy trial begin over the dead body, for God's sake. Let the truth about Fr. Stan be brought to light. Let the whole world know what the crime was for which Stan was shut up.

There is a compelling reason for saying so. Under the UAPA, the accused is GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT. So, Fr. Stan has died guilty. That is to say, he died condemned without a trial: an injustice not done to any accused, under any law anywhere in the world, or in any period of the human history of rule of law.

The State has a duty, besides, to prove the merit of its stand. Though, it is in the nature of the idea of the State itself that it is not accountable to anyone. All the more so, when it is patronised by a committed judiciary. That notion is of the very essence of the UAPA Act and all other draconian laws.
If UAPA is to make chilling sense, it should also be prescribed under its rubrics that an accused under its provisions should not be granted burial or cremation, unless his innocence is established. The bodies of the accused, when dead, should be preserved in a UAPA mausoleum under heavy guard. Just in case, the corpses escape and express solidarity with the poor and the powerless!

Well, there is this other humanitarian thing, you know? The hospital, treating Fr. Stan was ordered to 'do all it can' to save Fr. Stan, when he was critically ill. The thought of his soul flying away from the prison was unbearable, perhaps?

But there is a humiliating truth in this. The State may have a seeming authority over the life of its citizens. But it has no authority over death. But, then, what has no authority over death, cannot have any authority over life too; for life is primary, and death is merely complimentary.
The truth is that the State has absolutely no authority over life and death. It merely pretends to have, till truth comes with its bodkin and pricks the bubbles of mundane pretensions.

Sleep well, Fr. Stan. Your struggle is over. Ours remains; except that we are unequal to it. Our struggle now is only with ourselves; or, what is left of us.
________

Valson Thampu
Trivandrum, Kerala

Special prayers conducted at native village Virugallur for Stan Swamyhttps://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2021/jul/07/special-prayers-conducted-at-native-village-virugallur-for-stan-swamy-2326575.html

A day after the death of Father Stan Swamy, his family members, friends and well-wishers conducted a special prayer at his native village of Virugallur on Tuesd

S Martin, a social activist and admirer of Stan Swamy, said, " I have been inspired by his dedication to tribals and how he fought for their cause. The crimes Stan committed were just that he fought against displacement of tribal people, demanded the implementation of land rights for people living in forest and dedicated his life for their welfare. ”