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Tuesday, July 6 2021 Dive In |
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That’s from a letter written by Father Stan Swamy, expressing gratitude to those who had expressed solidarity with him. The 84-year old activist died yesterday, still in prison, still waiting for bail. The caged bird no longer sings. |
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The tragic death of Father Stan Swamy |
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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.
A life of adivasi activism
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 SwamyThe Bhima Koregaon case: We explained this at length here, but here’s a summary:
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 |
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