Around 6 AM on August 28, 2018, a loud knock on his window woke up octogenarian social activist and Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy. As Swamy came out of his room he saw some 25 armed policemen frantically searching his residence and questioning his associates. The police team from Pune in Maharashtra, assisted by another from the local thana of Ranchi바카라s Namkum locality, told Swamy that his name was part of an FIR filed in Pune concerning his alleged role in inciting the communal violence that broke out following an Elgar Parishad program at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1 that year.
In simultaneous raids across the country on that day, Varavara Rao (in Hyderabad), Sudha Bharadwaj (in Faridabad), Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves (in Mumbai) and Gautam Navlakha (in Delhi) 바카라 all civil rights activists who worked with Adivasis, Dalits and other marginalised communities 바카라 were taken into police custody. The five, continue to be incarcerated under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) along with several other activists, arrested for their alleged role in what has come to be known as the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case. Swamy, however, was not arrested at the time but the cops had seized a slew of material from his residence-cum-school in Ranchi바카라s Bagaicha, including his laptop and mobile phone.
Over two years later, late evening on October 8, sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) came knocking at Swamy바카라s door again. The activist바카라s close aides tell Outlook that the NIA team had no warrant but took Swamy away claiming that a senior official of the agency wished to speak to him. Swamy was taken to the NIA camp office in Ranchi바카라s Dhurva; some of his associates followed. 바카라At about 10 PM, an NIA officer informed us that Stan had been placed under arrest and that we should bring him his clothes, medicines and other essentials. It was only at this point that the arrest memo was shown to us,바카라 one of Swamy바카라s aides who was present at the NIA camp office tells Outlook.
Swamy was arrested under sections 153 (A), 505 (1) (B), 117, 120 (B), 121, 121 (A), 124 (A) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 18 (B), 20, 38, 39 and 40 of the UAPA. In the wee hours of October 9, when some of Swamy바카라s aides reached the NIA camp office to hand him some medicines that they had forgot to get the previous night, they were informed that the activist had been whisked away to the Ranchi airport. He was flown to Mumbai and produced before a special NIA court which sent the 84-year-old tribal rights바카라 activist into judicial custody till October 23. The NIA claims that Swamy was part of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist, and was 바카라actively involved in its activities바카라 and also received funds for Maoist activities.
Swamy바카라s is the 16th arrest in the Bhima-Koregaon case. Others who have been arrested in the case, so far, include Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Prof. Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Prof. Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap. Swamy, who suffers various medical complications, is the oldest accused to be arrested and charge-sheeted in the case.
While Swamy was being presented in the Mumbai court on Friday, his comrades and supporters organised a protest in Ranchi. Over 2000 public-spirited individuals have condemned his arrest and the overall manner in which the NIA is investigating the Bhima-Koregaon case. 바카라The inhuman and insincere act of the NIA authorities in arresting Stan Swamy stands out for its sheer vindictiveness, for Stan fully cooperated with the investigating officers of the NIA when they questioned him at his residence in Bagaicha for over 15 hours (from 27-30 July and on 6 August). Stan has consistently denied any link with extremist leftist forces or Maoists. He had also clearly told the NIA that some so-called extracts allegedly taken from his computer shown to him by the NIA were fake and fabricated and that he disowned them. It is deeply worrying that the NIA arrested an 84-year-old with several health ailments during the COVID pandemic and made him travel to Mumbai,바카라 the signatories said in their statement.
The statement adds, 바카라We firmly believe that the Bhima-Koregaon case, being driven by the Modi government, is a baseless fabrication. The central government, in the guise of the Bhima-Koregaon case, is trying to build a false narrative of a national Maoist conspiracy against the State that involves these activists. The main objective of the case is to target and harass activists who work for the rights of Adivasis, Dalits and the marginalised and raise questions against the anti-people policies of the government. The Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy case exposes the extent to which the central government is willing to undermine constitutional values and suppress dissent. The arrest of Stan Swamy is also an attack on all those working for human and constitutional rights in Jharkhand.바카라
The signatories have also expressed their displeasure at the silence of the Hemant Soren-led JMM-Congress coalition government of Jharkhand on Swamy바카라s arrest. In 2018, when Swamy was raided in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case, Soren 바카라 then in Opposition in the state 바카라 had slammed the police action. However, since Swamy바카라s arrest by the NIA, Soren has maintained a deafening silence while the activist바카라s supporters have urged him to speak up. A group of Swamy바카라s associates have sought time from the chief minister to discuss the arrest but haven바카라t yet received an appointment, say sources.
For Swamy, perhaps, his arrest came as no surprise. Two days ahead of his arrest, the tribal rights바카라 activist had prepared a statement to be released in the eventuality of him being forcefully taken by the NIA. He had also recorded a video detailing why he believed the government was demonising and arresting activists like him. 바카라The nature of the present NIA investigation of me has nothing to do about Bhima-Koregaon case, in which I have been booked as a 바카라suspected-accused바카라 and consequently raided twice (28 August 2018 and 12 June 2019). But, it had everything to do to somehow establish (i) that I am personally linked to extremist leftist forces and (ii) that through me Bagaicha is also related to some Maoists. I denied both these allegations in strongest terms,바카라 Swamy had said in his statement.
The 84-year-old had added that subsequent to his last interrogation by the NIA on August 6, the agency wanted him to appear at its Mumbai office for further questioning. Swamy says he had informed the NIA that 바카라I fail to understand the need for interrogating me further given the fact I have been subjected to that for 15 hours already바카라 and that he was 바카라not in a position to undertake the long journey given my age and the nature of the epidemic ravaging the country바카라. He had also informed the agency that should it wish to interrogate him further, it could do so through video-conference.
Swamy had also prepared a note, titled 바카라What is the crime I am supposed to have committed바카라, in which he detailed the various causes he had fought for through decades of his work as an activist. These include; questioning 바카라non-implementation of the 5th Schedule of the Constitution바카라, why the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act mandating rights of tribals for self-governance through gram sabhas was being ignored and why the Supreme Court바카라s Samatha judgment of 1997 granting Adivasis control over 바카라excavation of minerals in their lands and to help develop themselves economically바카라 was not implemented in letter and spirit by successive governments. The activist also says he had protested against the 바카라half-hearted바카라 implementation of the Forests Rights Act, 2006 and against the erstwhile BJP-led Raghubar Das government바카라s decision to set up 바카라land banks바카라 in Jharkhand; a move Swamy had dubbed as 바카라a plot to annihilate the Adivasi people바카라.
In August 2018, shortly after his home was raided by the Mumbai and Ranchi police teams, Swamy had told this writer, 바카라If the price for fighting for our underprivileged fellow citizens, our rights and the survival of our democracy is to be defamed by our elected representatives, or worse, be silenced, so be it. This is a fight to the finish and at stake is humanity, democracy and above all, the values that this country stood for and must stand for. No price is too high to pay, not even our lives.바카라
Two years later, as he was taken away by the NIA in a stealth operation, the 84-year-old Swamy hadn바카라t lost any of his grit and the courage of his conviction towards the causes he has always fought for hadn바카라t dimmed the slightest. He had signed off his statement with a couplet by Kahlil Gibran 바카라 바카라life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one바카라 and said that if the NIA arrested him, he would be 바카라ready to face the consequences바카라.
