Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy, or just Stan Swamy as he was lovingly called, was a messiah to the indigenous community in Jharkhand.
For most of his life, he worked extensively for the rights of Adivasis in the eastern tribal state of Jharkhand.
He also formed the Vistapan Virodhi Janvikash Andolan (VVJA) – a pan-India platform for different movements that are campaigning against human rights violations caused by the displacement of Adivasis, Dalits, and farmers from their lands.
Moved by the plight of Adivasi undertrials in Jharkhand, Stan did a research in 2016 which revealed 31 per cent of them and a little over a third of the convicts were tribals, most of whom were falsely dubbed as 'Naxalites'.
The report was published as "Deprived of rights over natural resources, impoverished Adivasis get prison: a study of Undertrials in Jharkhand".
The study also found that 97 per cent of the undertrials, who were interviewed, said that the allegations which linked them to Maoists were false, most of whom earned less than Rs 5,000 a month. This underlines the fact that the most vulnerable people in the state were the ones arrested under stringent anti-terror laws, for example, the UAPA law.
Stan came on the government's radar soon after as the report exposed the false Naxal links that was attached to the arrestees.
Some of them even served years in jail without a trial. Seeing the plight of them, he selflessly contributed to pay for the youth's bail bonds and approached lawyers to represent these cases in the court of law.
Stan Swamy was an educated man. He did his Masters in Sociology at the University of Manila in the 1970s. Later, he studied at Brussels where he met with Archbishop Holder Camara whose work among Brazils poor influenced him to do what he did.
From 1975 to 1986, he worked as Director of the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute at Bangalore.
Fast forward to August 28, 2018, several human rights activists from various parts of the country for allegedly inciting violence in the Bhima Koregaon case that was triggered by an event called Elgar Parishad held in Pune in 2017.
Raids were conducted by Maharashtra and Jharkhand police early morning which continued for hours. They confiscated Stan's mobile, laptop, some audio cassettes, some and CDs.
Stan issued a statement the very day saying that he had nothing to do with the violence that took place in Pune. He also expressed anguish over the arrest of the human rights activists.
Notably, renowned retired judges, Justice Sawant and Justice Patil, have also publicly said that they organised the event and the activists have no role in it.
On October 8, 2020, Stan was arrested by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon case.
It is noteworthy that two prior to his arrest, he had posted a video message where he claimed that stringent laws like UAPA were being misused to arrests tribals.
"I have never been to Bhima Koregaon for which I am being made an accused," he had said.
"…what is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone, it is a broader process taking place all over the country. We all are aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders are all put in jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India," he said in the video.
Soon after the arrest, Stan was produced before a court and was remanded to judicial custody.
According to NIA, he was actively involved in the activities of the CPI (Maoist). The NIA also alleged that he was in contact with several "conspirators".
They also alleged that he received funds through an associate for furthering the agenda.
Stan was denied medical bails multiple times by the Special NIA court saying that "Stan hatched a serious conspiracy to create unrest in the entire country and to overpower the Government, politically and by using muscle power."
He spent the last few months of his life fighting legal battles for even the smallest of needs. In December, he was allowed a straw and a sipper in jail, which he had requested in court on account of Parkinson's disease.
On May 30, Stan tested positive for COVID-19 in jail. He was later taken to a private hospital in Mumbai following a court order.
Just last week, Stan had filed fresh plea for bail in the Bombay High Court, challenging the stringent conditions for bail to an accused charged under UAPA.
The hearing for the same was scheduled for today, but, it was too late.
On July 5, 2021, at around 1.24 PM, Stan passed away due to pulmonary infection and also Parkinson's disease which he had battling since long.
The doctor of the hospital said he suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday at around 4.30 am, after which he was put on a ventilator and efforts to resuscitate the 84-year-old proved futile. He did not regain consciousness and was declared dead.
