[Marxistindia] Fix Accountability: Punish Those Responsible for Stan Swamy’s Death

[news from the cpi(m)]

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued  
the following statement:

Fix Accountability:
Punish Those Responsible for Stan Swamy’s Death

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses  
intense grief at the death of Father Stan Swamy.

The 84 year-old Jesuit priest and activist who championed the rights  
and causes of the adivasis in far flung areas of Jharkhand was jailed  
last October on trumped up charges under the draconian UAPA and was  
sought to be linked with the Bhima Koregaon case.

He was denied treatment for his various ailments including the  
debilitating Parkinson’s. It needs to be underlined that it is only  
after a campaign was conducted by various human rights and disability  
rights organisations that even a sipper to drink liquids was made  
available to him in jail.

The numerous appeals made to shift him out of the over crowded Taloja  
jail that had seen a huge rise in Covid cases went unheeded. His  
appeals for bail and being sent home to were rejected. Thanks to the  
Bombay High Court’s intervention he was admitted to a private hospital  
when his condition started deteriorating after he was infected with  
Covid. But it was too late to prevent his death in custody.

Those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued  
detention in jail and inhuman treatment cannot escape accountability.  
It is incumbent that all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and  
other detenues under politically motivated cases, misusing draconian  
laws like UAPA, Sedition etc, be released forthwith.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon the people to express their  
outrage in protest and to rise to protect the fundamental rights  
guaranteed under the Constitution.