Ten senior Opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and Sitaram Yechury, on Tuesday urged President Ram Nath Kovind to act against those responsible for the death of activist-priest Stan Swamy and release all people detained by "misusing" UAPA and provisions of sedition.
Shooting off a letter written in "deep anguish expressing our intense grief and outrage" at the death of Stan Swamy, the leaders said the 84-year-old Jesuit activist-priest was jailed on "trumped up charges" under the "draconian" Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and was sought to be linked with the Bhima Koregaon case.
The letter was also signed by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah, CPI General Secretary D Raja and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav.
"We are urging your immediate intervention as the President of Indian to direct 'your government' to act against those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment. They must be held accountable," the leaders said.
The leaders also said 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".
They said Stan Swamy was denied treatment for his various ailments, including debilitating Parkinson's. The letter reminded that he was provided a sipper to drink liquids in jail only after a nationwide campaign.
While numerous appeals made to shift him out of the overcrowded Covid-19 hit Taloja Jail went "unheeded", they said his appeals for bail were rejected.
It was "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-19" but it was too late to "prevent his death in custody" on Monday.
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