The TLDR: The 84-year old Jesuit priest and activist died in hospital yesterday. The news broke in a courtroom assembled to hear his bail plea. The immediate cause of death: cardiac arrest. The true cause of death: our justice system. We look at the life of Father Swamy and why it ended in such tragic circumstances.

Researched by: Sara Varghese

A life of adivasi activism

• Born in Tiruchirappalli, Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy entered the priesthood in 1957, and has since been a member of the five-century-old Society of Jesus. 
• Over the decades, he has tirelessly fought for jal (water), jungle (forest) and zameen (land) for tribal communities. 
• A big turning point was when as a trainee priest he moved to West Singhbhum in Jharkhand to teach Adivasi schoolboys at the Xavier’s school. The experience exposed him to tribal culture, people and also the injustices suffered by them.  
• He spent the rest of his life training tribal communities to fight for their rights. In 1991, he returned to Jharkhand, and soon began working toward organising a grassroots movement to reclaim tribal land rights.
• Ironically, Swamy also authored a key study that found a vast majority of tribal youth were arrested on trumped-up charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)—the very same law that would later be used to arrest him. 

The first sign of trouble: In 2018, the Jharkhand police slapped sedition cases against 20 senior adivasi activists including Swamy for publishing Facebook posts critical of the BJP-led state government. They were also accused of supporting the ‘Pathalgadi movement’ to assert their right to self-rule. Adivasis put up giant plaques declaring their tribal council as the only sovereign authority in their area, and banned all ‘outsiders’. Swamy and others were accused of “manipulating the innocent and uneducated villagers” against the government and instigating them towards “anti-national activities.” It marked Swamy’s first real run-in with the law—although he was not arrested. 

The arrest of Father Swamy

The Bhima Koregaon case: We explained this at length here, but here’s a summary:

• In January 2018, a number of activists gathered at a Dalit annual event called Elgar Parishad in Bhima Koregaon—a small village in the district of Pune. Stan Swamy was not one of them. 
• The event was marred by violence when it was interrupted by a group of people carrying saffron flags. 
• The FIR filed in that case was later expanded to include charges under the extremely strict anti-terrorism law UAPA. 
• It has since been used to arrest a variety of activists and intellectuals—many of whom were never present at the original event. 
• They have been accused of hatching “a nationwide plot against the Indian state” with the financial assistance from a banned Maoist party. 
• Apart from Swamy, those arrested include poet Varavara Rao and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj along with activists Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves.
• In January 2020, the case was transferred from the Pune police to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)—soon after the BJP government in Maharashtra lost power. The move was seen as political since it happened right after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government in Maharashtra decided to review the case.

Point to note: The arrests in the Bhima Koregaon case have followed a clear pattern. Authorities add one activist to the original FIR, raid their home and confiscate laptops and other devices. They find “evidence” incriminating the activist, and also his associates—who are then arrested next. Rinse and repeat. 

The charges against Swamy: Last year, he was questioned multiple times by the NIA—which also raided his residence in Bagaicha, Jharkhand. And he was finally arrested on October 8. The chargesheet claims that he was a member of CPI (Maoist) party—a banned organisation—and received funding from it. It also alleged that the legal rights NGO he led—Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee—was a front for the Maoists. 

Swamy’s arrest too followed a now familiar pattern. The NIA confronted him with several incriminating files—‘proving’ the Maoist connection—that were found on his computer. Swamy previously said: “I told them all these were fabrications stealthily put into my computer and I disowned them.”

About that evidence: In February this year, the investigation of a highly respected US forensics firm called Arsenal Consulting presented damning evidence that the laptop of one of the accused—Rona Wilson—in the Bhima Koregaon case had been hacked. And someone had planted documents on its drive. And this was not an isolated case. According to the report, the same attacker used the same servers and IP addresses to target the others accused in the case over a period of four years. But Arsenal says it’s ”one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering” it has ever encountered, calling it “unique and deeply disturbing.” (We explained this investigation here).

A cruel and unusual punishment

The NIA arrested and summoned Swamy to Mumbai, claiming it needed to question him in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case. Yet, when he was produced at a special NIA court, the agency simply sent him off to judicial custody in Taloja Central Jail. Here’s a brief timeline of his time in prison.

Bail denied: Soon after, Swamy sought interim bail citing his susceptibility to Covid—given his age and underlying health conditions, including a heart condition and Parkinson’s disease. The NIA said the 83-year-old was taking “undue benefit” of the pandemic and that the pleading about his medical condition was “merely a ruse” to obtain interim relief.

The ‘sipper’ incident: Since Swamy suffers from Parkinson’s, his hands shake and he cannot drink water without a sipper and a straw. He claimed that the NIA had taken these away from him, and moved the court demanding their return in November. The NIA denied ever confiscating these items—after 20 days. The prison officials made no effort to step in either. Swamy would finally receive a straw, sipper and winter clothes in December. 

Deteriorating health: By end of November, Swamy had almost lost hearing in both his ears and fallen in the prison multiple times. Apart from that, due to two past hernia operations, he was suffering from pain in his lower abdomen. 

Bail denied, again: Swamy applied for bail again in February, and was denied again. The NIA court judge declared: 

“[I]f seriousness of allegations made against the applicant are considered in proper perspective...there will be no hesitation to conclude that the collective interest of the community would outweigh the right of personal liberty of the applicant and as such the old age and or alleged sickness of the applicant would not go in his favour.”

A third bail plea: In April, Swamy moved the Bombay High Court, and appeared via video conference on May 21, when he said:

“Eight months ago, I would eat by myself, do some writing, walk. I could take a bath by myself. But all these are disappearing one after another. So, Taloja Jail has brought me to a situation where I can neither write nor go for a walk by myself. Someone has to feed me. In other words, I am requesting you to consider why and how this deterioration of myself happened. My deterioration is more powerful than the small tablets that they give.”

And he begged to be sent back to Ranchi. The court instead would only agree to move Swamy to a private hospital—but at his own expense. 

The last stretch: As he always feared, Swamy tested positive for Covid in hospital. While he recovered from the illness, his health continued to deteriorate. The cause of death: pulmonary infection, Parkinson's disease and post-Covid complications. When he died, Swamy had filed a petition challenging a key clause of UAPA as unconstitutional as it imposes a de facto ban on the grant of bail. His death was announced during a separate bail hearing in the Bombay High Court.

The bottomline: Anticipating his arrest, Swamy recorded an 8 minute testimony in October, when he said:

“I just want to end by saying, what is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone—it’s the broader process that is taking place all over the country. We are all aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders—they are all put in jail—just because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India. So we are part of the process, as such I am in a way happy to be part of this process, because I am not a silent spectator but I am part of it—part of the game and ready to pay the price, whatever be it.”

Reading list

The Hindu has a timeline charting the period between Swamy’s arrest and his death. Scroll has a detailed profile of his life’s work. Also in Scroll: Why the repeated denial of bail is a gross violation of the rights of older citizens. The Telegraph looks at how jail not bail is the rule in our judicial system. A must read: This Caravan interview with Swamy. The Wire reported on his last appearance in court—where he offered powerful testimony. The Guardian rounds up reactions to his death. Our explainer has the best background on the Bhima Koregaon case—and the investigation into the possible hacking.