Stan Swamy, A Victim of Inhuman Cruelty; Bring the Culprits to Book – BM Kamble

BM Kamble, National Vice President of Social Democratic Party of India demanded that the culprits who ill-treated Jesuit priest Fr. Stan Swamy in the prison should be brought to book immediately. The latest news revealed by his co-prisoner Iklakh Rahim Shaikh in a letter to the online magazine ‘The Wire’ is highly shocking, said Kamble.The letter brings out the discriminatory treatment meted out to the so called VIP prisoners vis a vis the non-VIP detenues; and the inhuman and cruel behaviour of the jail personnel towards the latter, in the jail. Rights activist Stan Swamy was arrested, branding him as Urban Naxal, by the NIA for his alleged role in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence. The 84 year old Swamy died of cardiac arrest, on 5th July 2021 in a Mumbai hospital while undergoing treatment for Covid19, after languishing around 60 months in the jail as an undertrial. His death had caused strong outrages both from India and abroad. The news of denying Swamy, who had been suffering from Parkinsonism, a sipper to drink liquids had raised severe criticism from all over the world. Rahim Shaikh’s letter specifically names the officers who led the brutality against Swami and other prisoners. Unfortunately these officers are still in service without any scratch, continuing their cruelties. The letter unveils the real picture inside the jail.Kamble stated that the letter uncovers the blatant violation of human rights and the inhuman character of the jail staff. Human rights are not something that can be denied in jails, said Kamble and he demanded that a judicial enquiry be conducted about the death of Stan Swamy and exemplary punishment be ensured against the guilty jail officers.