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Ill-Treatment of Stan Swamy in Jail Should ‘Shake Foundation of Democracy’

Ill-Treatment of Stan Swamy in Jail Should ‘Shake Foundation of Democracy’

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Iklakh Rahim Shaikh, who spent time with the Jesuit priest in Taloja jail, says while “VIP prisoners” get access to all kinds of facilities, prisoners like Swamy are denied even the most basic rights.
A pretrial detainee at the Taloja central prison in the outskirts of Mumbai, who spent close to a year with 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, says the Jesuit priest struggled for a long time before he finally died in July last year.
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Visible change but current government silent on core issues / Sainthood for Father Stan Swamy

Visible change but current government silent on core issues / Sainthood for Father Stan Swamy

Visible change from past but current government silent on core issues

29/12/2021

Times of India / by ASRP Mukesh

A day before the second anniversary of the Hemant Soren-led alliance government on Wednesday, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM), a group of several rights bodies, on Tuesday said despite getting a clear mandate, the incumbent administration has failed to bring any significant relief and improvement in the lives of the common people…
Stating that both JMM and Congress, in their election manifestos, had promised action to release undertrials (tribals, Dalits, backward and minorities jailed in minor cases without conviction), the JJM said, “There is complete silence on this issue too. The Hemant Soren government had raised its voice against the inhuman arrest of Stan Swamy and paid him a tribute after his death, but it remained silent on the issues raised by Stan.”
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Sainthood for Father Stan Swamy

25/12/2021

Deccan Herald / by N Jayaram

Hindutva chauvinists might get a strong message if the process leading to his canonisation were to begin soon
On Christmas day, thoughts turn to a good Christian who was snatched away from us on July 5 this year.
Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy, or Stan Swamy, had dedicated his life to serving Adivasis in Central India, after having been director of the Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru, from 1975 to 1986. He was implicated and jailed – falsely, in the opinion of a large number of human rights activists and even noted jurists – in the infamous Bhima-Koregaon case.
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Also read:
● Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive (Scroll.in / Dec 2021)
● Teacher, companion, motivator: Adivasi-rights activist Dayamani Barla remembers Stan Swamy (The Caravan/Sep 2021)
● PUDR Report: Framed to Die – The Case of Stan Swamy (pdf file, 45 pages; PUDR/Aug 2021)

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay HC Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay HC Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

Judicial enquiry sought to clear Stan Swamy name

18/12/2021

The Times of India / by TOI

Five months after the death of Jesuit priest and Elgar Parishad case accused Father Stan Swamy in hospital while in in judicial custody, Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, as his ‘next of kin’ has petitioned the Bombay high court for a judicial enquiry into the death in custody and to remove the ‘odium of guilty’ attached to the deceased tribal rights activist and the shadow it “casts” on the Jesuits in India.
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“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay High Court Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

17/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, has approached the Bombay High Court to clear Father Stan Swamy’s name in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case. He has also sought for a court-monitored judicial inquiry into his custodial death.
Fr Stan founded Bagaicha, an organisation dedicated to empowering the Adivasi and Moolvasi communities in Jharkhand. He passed away on July 5, nine months after his arrest.
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There is no room for fake encounters, says NHRC chief Arun Mishra

There is no room for fake encounters, says NHRC chief Arun Mishra

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The head of the country’s statutory human rights body said that speedy justice was key to rule of law.
National Human Rights Commission chief Arun Mishra on Friday said that suspects in cases should not be jailed without trial and that there was no room for fake encounters. Mishra, a former Supreme Court judge, added that justice was the source of a peaceful society…
As recently as on Wednesday, South African non-profit organisation Civicus put India on a list of countries with “repressed” democratic values. The report had flagged the use of draconian anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, repression of the farmers’ protest and the imposition of curfews in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Also read:
● In Jharkhand, Scheduled Tribes Still Battle Flimsy Criminal Cases Filed With Little Evidence (Indiaspend / Oct 2021)
● The ‘Encounter Raj’ mindset: Stop mocking those who stand for human rights. Demonising them endangers every citizen (Times of India / July 2020)
● Chhattisgarh: Story of another ‘encounter’ (The Indian Express / Dec 2019)
● Press Release Of The Joint Fact Finding in Gadchiroli by CDRO, IAPL and WSS (WSS / May 2018)

Human Rights Day: BK16 Solidarity (in pictures) / Is there really cause for celebration?

Human Rights Day: BK16 Solidarity (in pictures) / Is there really cause for celebration?

Raipur and Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh)

10/12/2021

By PUCL Chhattisgarh

PUCL Chhattisgarh together with several other unions and organisations organised events in Raipur and Bilaspur on the occasion of Human Rights day. Over 200 people were present in both cities. They also submitted a memorandum to the chief minister and governor of the state
Read PUCL press release (hindi)

click to enlarge

Worldwide Campaign

‘Speaking Up Is Not Anti-National’: Global Groups Condemn Attacks on India’s Rights Defenders

10/12/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

‘Every single government authority, whose job it is to safeguard human rights, has actively undermined them.’
The Indian diaspora and 30 international human rights groups across over 15 countries on Friday – on the occasion of Human Rights Day – came together for a global campaign to condemn growing attacks on human rights in India. In a statement, they advocated for the repeal of laws that are criminalising the defence of human rights and jailing human rights defenders in the country.
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Berlin and Goettingen, Germany

10/12/2021

India Justice Project (IJP) & IndienKoGruppe

Through an interactive street performance on 10 December, International Human Rights Day, at Rathaus Neukoelln in Berlin, the India Justice Project called for solidarity with imprisoned human rights defenders in India.
Read IJP press release

click to enlarge

 

 

Goettingen

Release intellectuals, writers arrested under UAPA: Farm outfit

11/12/2021

Times of India / by Neel Kamal

Hours before winding up the year-long farmers’ protest at the Delhi borders, farmer organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) on Friday observed the international human rights day and demanded the release of all intellectuals and writers arrested under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) Bhima Koregaon, Elgar Parishad case and Delhi riots cases.
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Video


By Neha Dixit (Dec 11)
+++ The fabulous Navsharan Singh speaks of Sudha Bharadwaj’s release as several women farmers gather at the Bibi Gulaab Kaur stage to wrap up the 15 month long protest and return home victorious +++
Watch video

Human Rights Day: Is there really cause for celebration?

10/12/2021

Bar & Bench / by Areeb Uddin Ahmed, Aditya AK

In the face of what has come to pass in the recent past, as human rights continue to be sacrificed at the altar of national security and other reasons, we ask ourselves whether there really is cause for celebration.
Every December 10 is celebrated as Human Rights Day, in honour of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document that serves as the blueprint for the freedoms assured to persons across the world.
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Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive

Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive

Scroll.in / by Riddhi Dastidar, IndiaSpend.com

While the fight has faltered, Swamy’s friends and colleagues are taking forward the work he had lived and died for.
“Until his last breath, Stan had hope in the judiciary,” recalled Sheela*, a Delhi-based lawyer who asked to be anonymous for fear of being targeted. “He was waiting for the July 3 hearing where his interim bail plea was to be taken up. I think when that did not happen, he finally lost hope.”
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‘Release and Stop Harassing Khurram Parvez, Sudha Bharadwaj and Human Rights Defenders’

‘Release and Stop Harassing Khurram Parvez, Sudha Bharadwaj and Human Rights Defenders’

The Citizen / by the Citizen Bureau

32 civil society organisations from across Asia, the Pacific and Europe have called on the Indian government and courts to immediately and unconditionally release “human rights defenders” including Khurram Parvez and Sudha Bharadwaj, and to repeal the “unjust law” UAPA. They also demand bail and compensation for those jailed under UAPA but never tried, or the high proportion found not guilty.
The full statement, signed by groups in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Spain, Australia, Pakistan, Taiwan, the Netherlands and others, follows.
Read full statement

‘This fight is not just about Father Stan Swamy’: Father Mascarenhas

‘This fight is not just about Father Stan Swamy’: Father Mascarenhas

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

‘Father Stan was concerned about other innocents who may be implicated and put inside without the slightest proof, the way he was.’
Father Mascarenhas, the former principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, tells Jyoti Punwani why even though Father Swamy is no more, the legal fight to prove that the 84-year-old priest from Jharkhand was not what the State portrayed him to be, is important.
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Bombay HC Asks Jesuit Group to File New Plea if They Want Stan Swamy’s Name Cleared

Bombay HC Asks Jesuit Group to File New Plea if They Want Stan Swamy’s Name Cleared


Pic: Mumbai, Sep 2021

Indian Jesuits want Father Stan’s reputation restored

26/11/2021

UCA News / by UCA News reporter

They believe the late activist priest was implicated in mob violence for standing up for the rights of indigenous people.
Indian Jesuits plan to appeal to a court to clear the stigma attached to their activist colleague Father Stan Swamy, who died under detention after being arrested under a draconian anti-terror law.
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Bombay HC Asks Jesuit Group to File New Plea if They Want Stan Swamy’s Name Cleared

25/11/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Swamy died while his appeal in the high court against the NIA special court’s order denying him bail was pending.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the lawyers of late Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Stan Swamy to file a fresh petition against observations made by a special National Investigation Agency court against him in the Elgar Parishad case.
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HC asks lawyers to file fresh plea against special NIA court’s observations against Stan Swamy

24/11/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

After his death on July 5, Swamy’s lawyers had requested the court to keep pending his appeals against special court orders rejecting his bail pleas on medical grounds and merits.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked late Father Stan Swamy’s lawyers to file fresh independent plea raising grievances pertaining to the observations made against the Jesuit priest by the Special NIA Court while rejecting his bail pleas.
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Bombay High Court Disposes Father Stan Swamy’s Petitions ; Allows Jesuits To Initiate Separate Proceedings

24/11/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Four and a half months after Father Stan Swamy’s demise, the Bombay High Court has allowed the Jesuits to initiate separateproceedings to clear the odium attached to his name and reputation because of the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case.
A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal disposed of as withdrawn Swamy’s bail appeal and anotherpetition challenging his prosecution under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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Fr Swamy silenced over India’s coal and Adivasi

Fr Swamy silenced over India’s coal and Adivasi

AsiaNews / by Giorgio Bernardelli

The Jesuit clergyman, who died in Mumbai after nine months in detention, wrote a scathing article against the Indian government’s policy of auctioning off 41 coal mines to private interests. India’s coal is front-page news in the wake of COP26 in Glasgow.
Fr Stan Swamy was a prophetic voice when he spoke about coal mines in India, an issue that is front-page news around the world.
That voice was first silenced with prison, then extinguished at the age of 83 when he died last July from the consequences of his detention.
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