Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case, passed away on Monday, his counsel informed the Bombay High Court when the court took up his bail plea. He was 84.
Swamy’s lawyers had moved the Bombay High Court on Monday morning, seeking an urgent hearing on his medical bail plea after the octogenarian’s health condition deteriorated on Sunday and he was put on ventilator support.
Swamy, who has been admitted to a private hospital since May, was in the Intensive Care Unit and was put on a ventilator on Sunday after he had difficulty breathing and his oxygen levels were fluctuating, his lawyer Mihir Desai said.
Post-midnight, Desai said Sunday, Swamy’s health condition deteriorated. This, he added, could be a result of long-term post-Covid complications.
Swamy was arrested on October 8 last year and was lodged at Taloja central jail till he was shifted to Holy Family hospital on May 30 following directions from the high court.
In the previous hearings, the court had noted that there were “serious medical issues” after perusing the hospital medical director’s reports on Swamy.
The NHRC on Sunday issued a notice to the Maharashtra government in the wake of a complaint alleging serious health condition of the 84-year-old. UN special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor also made an appeal to the government for special treatment to the activist lodged in jail.
“Horrible news to learn that Indian Human Rights Defender Father Stan Swamy is in very serious condition and was put on a ventilator last night. He’s spent 9 months in jail on unfounded charges. I’m deeply saddened and expect that every possible specialist treatment will be provided to him," Lawlor said in a post on Twitter.
Earlier, the NHRC had received a complaint on May 16 that Swamy was being denied medical facility during the COVID-19 period, the rights panel said.
It was also alleged in the complaint that he had not been vaccinated yet and that there was no proper medical care in the jail hospital, it said.
The petitioner has further alleged that the majority of jail staff had tested Covid positive, especially most of the kitchen staff. A number of undertrial prisoners had also contracted the coronavirus and no RT-PCR tests were conducted there, as per the the complaint, the statement said.
Comments
Add new comment