New Delhi: The death of the 84-year-old activist Stan Swamy amid his fight for bail on the grounds of health issues sparked off intense responses on social media from political leaders, activists, journalists, intellectuals among others. Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest who was arrested last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, died after suffering a cardiac arrest on Monday.
Opposition parties and other leaders called out the “inhuman treatment” meted out to the activist after being arrested on charges of an anti-terror law. The octogenarian had been on ventilator support since Sunday, when his health conditions worsened and was being treated at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai following the court order of May 28.
Rights activist Shabnam Hashmi called Stan Swamy’s death “custodial murder” and said that the government has to be held accountable. “#StanSwamy passes away. Fr. Stan Swamy passes away as undertrial in state custody under fake charges under UAPA, NIA, sedition. This is not death, this is custodial murder. Government has to be held accountable,” she tweeted.
RTI activist and anti-graft crusader Anjali Bhardwaj also expressed the anguish in the same vein and called it an “institutional murder”. “With UAPA, the process is the punishment. The death of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy should be recognised for what it is – institutional murder. RIP Father Stan,” Bhardwaj posted on Twitter.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren also tweeted about Stan Swamy’s death and demanded justice for the inhuman treatment against him. DMK lawmaker Dayanidhi Maran also said that they will be raising the issue in Parliament. “This is a sad state of Indian politics. We are going to raise this issue in Parliament to voice out that you cannot squeeze or mute the dissident voices of people. This is a democracy,” ANI quoted the MP as saying. Times of India
