06/07/2021
Tribal rights activist Father Stan
Swamy dies in Mumbai hospital
Stan Swamy, 84, who was an
accused in the BhimaKore-
gaon caste violence case,
passed away on Monday af-
ternoon, the Bombay High
Court was told.
Dr. Ian D’souza, medical
director of the Holy Family
Hospital where Fr. Swamy
was admitted on May 29 af-
ter having contracted CO-
VID19 while in Taloja jail,
told a division Bench of Jus-
tices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Ja-
madar that he had pulmon-
ary infection, post COVID19
complications in the lungs
and pneumonia. Dr. D’Souza
said the Jesuit priest suff�ered
cardiac arrest at 4.30 a.m.
on July 4 and was put on ven-
tilator. He never regained
consciousness.
Senior advocate Mihir De-
sai, representing Fr. Swamy,
said, “We have no grievance
against the hospital. Howev-
er, we cannot say the same
thing about the National In-
vestigation Agency [NIA] and
State authorities. I am seek-
ing a judicial probe into this
as there was a delay of 10
days in taking him to the hos-
pital from jail.”
The Bench said, “...this is
shocking news. We passed
that order ... to take him to
the hospital of his choice. We
have no words to express
our condolences.”
Mr. Desai said the NIA did
not seek his custody even for
a day and he was sent to Ta-
loja jail as soon as he was ar-
rested from Ranchi on Oc-
tober 9, 2020. He requested
the court to pass an order to
hand over the social work-
er’s body to Father Frazer,
his friend and former princi-
pal of Xavier’s college.
Mr. Desai sought the sub-
mission of all medical re-
ports and the postmortem
report to the court.
Fr. Swamy was shifted to
the private hospital from Ta-
loja jail on May 29 after di-
rections from the High
Court. He tested positive for
COVID19 on May 30.
He also had lower back
pain and bilateral hearing
loss among other ailments,
and was suff�ering from Par-
kinson’s disease. His request
for a sipper to drink water
was turned down.
The Jesuit priest, through
videoconferencing, told the
court on May 21: “I am eating
less and less and my coac-
cused are worried about me.
I would prefer to suff�er and
die like this in Taloja jail than
be admitted to J.J. Hospital.
Only one thing that I would
request the judiciary is to
consider interim bail. That is
the only request.”
Tribal rights activist Father Stan
