CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on July 5, 2021

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses intense grief at the death of Father Stan Swamy.

The 84 year-old Jesuit priest and activist who championed the rights and causes of the adivasis in far flung areas of Jharkhand was jailed last October on trumped up charges under the draconian UAPA and was sought to be linked with the Bhima Koregaon case.

He was denied treatment for his various ailments including the debilitating Parkinson’s. It needs to be underlined that it is only after a campaign was conducted by various human rights and disability rights organisations that even a sipper to drink liquids was made available to him in jail.

The numerous appeals made to shift him out of the overcrowded Taloja jail that had seen a huge rise in Covid cases went unheeded. His appeals for bail and being sent home to were rejected. Thanks to the Bombay High Court’s intervention he was admitted to a private hospital when his condition started deteriorating after he was infected with Covid. But it was too late to prevent his death in custody.

Those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment cannot escape accountability. It is incumbent that all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and other detenues under politically motivated cases, misusing draconian laws like UAPA, Sedition etc, be released forthwith.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon the people to express their outrage in protest and to rise to protect the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution.