Updated: October 9, 2020 3:56:47 pm
Stan Swamy is an 83-year-old Jesuit priest. (YouTube / Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha)
The National Investigative Agency (NIA) made its seventh arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case on Thursday, with 83-year-old father Stan Swamy. taken into Ranchi’s custody.
Who is Stan Swamy and what kind of work does he do?
Father Stan Swamy is a Jharkhand-based Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist. He has worked in the state for more than three decades on various issues of the Adivasi communities on land, forests and labor rights. This includes questioning the non-implementation of the Fifth Annex of the Constitution, which stipulated the establishment of an Advisory Council of Tribes with members only from the Adivasi community for their protection, well-being and development in the state.
In a statement given two days before the NIA detained him, Swamy said he had challenged the “indiscriminate” arrest of thousands of young Adivasis and Moolvasis with investigative agencies that labeled them “naxales.”
Swamy had filed a public interest petition in High Court against the state, requesting the release of all such prisoners on personal bail and the holding of a speedy trial. He had also requested the appointment of a judicial commission to investigate the reasons for the delays in the judicial process.
Swamy’s work also involves opposition to the creation of “land banks”, which, according to him, would free up community-owned land to establish small and large industries.
Swamy’s statement says her job was to express her disagreement with various government policies and laws enacted in violation of the Constitution.
“I think this is the main reason the state is willing to get me out of the way. The most feasible way is to get involved in serious cases and paralyze the judicial process to do justice to the poor innocent Adivasis, ”the statement said.
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Stan Swamy was interrogated several times by the NIA, including in the last two months at the Bagaicha Jesuit residence.
What is the case for which the NIA has stopped you?
The NIA, which took over the Elgar Parishad / Bhima Koregaon investigation, alleges that all of the defendants have ties to the banned (Maoist) CPI. Arrests have been made in the case since 2018; so far, 16 people have been arrested, including lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who worked with communities in Chhattisgarh; Surendra Gadling, a lawyer from Nagpur; University of Delhi Associate Professor Hany Babu; and three members of the Kabir Kala Manch cultural group.
On January 1, 2018, thousands of Dalits had gathered near Pune to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, which was won by the British Army – mostly soldiers from the Dalit community – against the Peshwas in 1818. There was violence, with vehicles of those gathered burned and assaults.
Following an eyewitness account, an FIR was registered at the Pimpri Police Station on 2 January, naming Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, for alleged incitement.
On January 8, however, the Pune police filed another FIR claiming that the violence took place due to an event held on December 31, 2017 called Elgar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada in Pune. Pune police arrested activists who claimed that the event was organized as part of alleged Maoist activity and that the accused were involved in it.
And what is the accusation against Swamy, specifically?
Swamy was interrogated multiple times by the NIA, including in the last two months at the Jesuit residence in Bagaicha. Searches were also carried out at his residence with the NIA alleging his ties to Maoist forces.
Swamy has said that the NIA presented him with several excerpts claiming they were taken from his computer, implying his connection to the Maoists. “I told them that these were all fabrications that had crept into my computer and disowned them,” their statement reads.
He has also denied allegations of Maoist ties and said in the video that he had never been to Bhima Koregaon.
“I would just add that what is happening to me is not unique. Many activists, lawyers, writers, journalists, student leaders, poets, intellectuals and others who defend the rights of the Adivasis, Dalits and the marginalized and express their disagreement with the ruling powers of the country are being targeted, ”he said.
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