Picture Credits: National Herald
Ranchi: Stan Swamy, an 82-year-old Jesuit priest and social activist was arrested on Thursday from his residence in Jharkhand.
Fr Swamy has been arrested for his alleged connections with the Bhima Koregaon case. Those arrested under this case have been accused of having links with the Naxals and Maoists.
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This is, however, not the first time that the priest has been arrested under the same case. He was previously arrested by the Pune Police.
Fr Stan Swamy’s efforts to fight the powers oppressing the marginalised and the displacing tribal communities are no secret. Fr Swamy has played a key role in defending the rights of 3000 Adivasis who are behind bars for Pathalgardi, a name given to a tribal protest seeking autonomy from the village sabhas.
Two days before the arrest, Fr Swamy recorded a video, which was released by his colleagues. In the video testimony, the priest denies having even been to the Bhima Koregaon. He explains how the creation of a separate state of Jharkhand led to the alienation and displacement of tribal communities due to mining, construction of factories and townships. He also alleged inadequate compensation by the authorities.
To aid the victims of these misdoings, Fr Swamy founded a committee, along with other social activists from the tribal states of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orrisa, and Bengal, called the Persecuted Prisoner’s Solidarity Committee (PPSC).
The NIA interrogated Fr Swamy for 15 hours over a span of five days in the month of July this year. They allegedly displayed confiscated extracts of Maoists communicating with each other and asked the priest to reveal his connection with these terror groups. The priest also added, in the video, that there was no mention of the sender’s name or the date of writing on these extracts.
Following the raid and arrest, the priest was instructed to travel to Bombay for further investigation but due to age-limitations and risks of contracting the novel coronavirus, Fr Swamy has refused to travel. He added that he has cooperated with the NIA till now and is willing to answer all questions provided that the agency conducts its investigation in Jharkhand.
Shillong MP Vincent H. Pala has written a letter to the Prime Minister requesting Fr Stan Swamy’s immediate release. Condemning the Centre’s decisions, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemanth Soren questioned the “insistence on crushing every voice of dissent?”
According to a report by The Hindu, the NIA has filed a charge sheet against Fr Stan Swamy and several others. Speaking to The Hindu, the NIA said, “All the accused conspired with other accused persons to further the ideology of the terrorist organisation CPI(Maoist) and abetted violence, brought into hatred and incited disaffection towards the Government established by law and promoted enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, caste and community. The absconding accused Milind Teltumbde also organised training camps for imparting weapons training to other accused persons.”
