JOIN USWhatever happened to human rights?
The plight of Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old Jesuit priest who has been in jail since October last, reflects the callousness and insensitivity of the State and the inability of the system to come to his aid at a time of extreme distress. The ailing tribal rights activist has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for various crimes. He was denied bail by the special court hearing National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases in March on the ground that the material placed on record prima facie indicated that he was carrying out activities to “overthrow the democracy of the nation” and that the “collective interest of community outweighed the right of personal liberty of Stan Swamy.” Last week, the Bombay High Court was again petitioned for interim bail on health grounds. The court suggested that he may be shifted to a government hospital, but he did not want to go there as the hospital lacked facilities.
Swamy suffers from Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. He cannot hold a glass in his hand, finds it difficult to eat himself, write, take a bath or walk, and needs help for all these. He says he would “rather suffer, possibly die very shortly if this were to go on.” If a prisoner in such a condition cannot get the treatment and care that he needs and wants, how can our society be called civilised? It is not only Stan Swamy who is denied basic health facilities in prisons. His co-accused Hany Babu, a Delhi University professor, got treatment for his serious infections very late and only after much pressure. Journalist Siddique Kappan, who is also held under the UAPA, had to struggle to get medical treatment and there are still complaints about that.
Swamy and 15 others are languishing in jail as accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case. Charged under the UAPA, it is almost impossible for them to get bail. The charges against them are, attempt to destabilise the government and a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister. Even at a preliminary glance, there are serious infirmities in the cases. One of the accused, Rona Wilson, has sought to produce proof that shows that evidence was planted in his laptop to incriminate him. But it is certain that all of them will have to spend years in jail before their cases are decided. If they are found innocent, as they claim, and as the record of convictions in such cases shows, who will be responsible for depriving them of their freedom for long years and for the ill-treatment? Some of them may not even survive jail.