The activist-priest faced charges in the Bhima Koregaon case for inciting caste violence. But something doesn’t quite add up
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain neutrality,” said medieval thinker Dante Alighieri. He could well have been speaking about the present times where conscience is flaming out. As we all go about worrying about our own lives in the Corona era, a lot more is happening during the lockdown — detentions, lockups, undertrials succumbing to inordinate delays and common people’s eternal wait for justice.
This is as much about Father Stan Swamy as it is about us. Sometimes the breath and conscience are all there is between the living and dead. If it does not simmer, a person may be living yet dead. Sometimes an individual’s death allows us to ponder over how alive we are — socially, politically and morally.
Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy died on a hospital bed in Mumbai under incarceration, waiting for an interim bail that never came. He was admitted to a private hospital and put on ventilator after contracting COVID in the cramped Taloja jail. Finally, on July 6, post-COVID aftereffects, Parkinson’s and the system’s apathy got the better of him. An ailing octogenarian who had no criminal record or history of violence was denied bail despite several appeals. His death left the system on a metaphorical ventilator; gasping for air, clamouring for a bailout.
Father Stan was born in Tamil Nadu and had imbibed his liberal ideas in the Philippines. He chose to work for the welfare of tribals in Jharkhand. He was also a Jesuit priest, a Christian missionary working in tribal areas. These two descriptions are enough to make his credentials suspect. A “liberal activist” conveniently translates as “Maoist”. Christian missionary swaps well for a conversion enthusiast. One could wonder why it took him so long to earn the system’s ire. Was it his credentials or his work in tribal areas that did him in? It wasn’t. It was when he threw the spanner in the works by questioning Adani’s political juggernaut. He objected to the forceful acquisition of land for the Adani power plant in Godda at a throwaway price. The project got hasty environmental clearances from the Government in 2017. The landowners were never paid what was due to them. The project had enormous environmental costs as well. For clearing forests, gram sabha’s consent was never sought.
Father Stan was asking uncomfortable questions, making the powers-that-be nervous. He filed a PIL in 2017 against the detention of 72 prisoners in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district. Adivasi and Dalit youths were jailed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Their only crime was that they had protested the illegal acquisition of their land and forests. They stood against the corporations that had the State’s backing. Three years later, he was also booked under the UAPA in far-off Maharashtra.
The message was loud and clear: You do not mess with the system. If you do, the system will fix you, slowly but surely. He was one of the 16 accused in what is now known as the Bhima Koregaon case for inciting caste violence and plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister. He was arrested from his ashram in Ranchi and locked up in Taloja jail in October 2020. It is interesting to note how the system works. The 40-odd policemen arrested him within hours after the orders. Nevertheless, the trial for such a sensitive case is yet to start. Our system does work, though selectively!
A liberal by intellect and a God-fearing Christian by heart, the two opposites met in him and synthesised. Thanks to NIA, he holds the rare distinction of being the oldest person to be charged for terror activities. He was treated as a petty criminal without any entitlements and privileges that should have come with his age, if nothing else. He suffered from Parkinson’s and could not even sign or hold a cup to drink water. He fell down several times. It took just eight months to kill him.
The Bhima Koregaon case would take years to decide. The NIA and public prosecutors would indeed have evidence to prove he was involved. The judge would listen to the plea of both sides and decide. Of course, he would not consider reports that the laptop was hacked and injected with malware to plant evidence against Stan; more so if the newspaper happens to be Washington Post.
The judges are not supposed to work under media pressure or the Government, no matter how high-profile the case may be. Bail is not an undertrial’s right but a judge’s discretion, his call based on facts presented before him. That Father Stan could wage a war against the State from a hospital bed or destroy evidence with his trembling hands or could have jumped bail though he could not walk, these facts must have crossed the judge’s mind while declining his bail petition. He died 46 days later. In the film Jolly LLB, the judge quips: “Kanoon andha hota hai judge nahin, usey sab dikhta hai” (Law is blind, not the judge; he sees everything)”. Wish the judge had seen the truth through. He could have bailed out the judiciary!
(The writer is a columnist and documentary filmmaker. The views expressed are personal.)