(UCAN): More than 3,000 people took part in a signature campaign demanding justice for late Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and others accused in a sedition case filed by India’s pro-Hindu federal government under the controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Father Swamy died in custody on 5 July 2021 at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai, where he had been confined due to deteriorating health from a combination of Parkinson’s disease, age-related illnesses, contracting Covid-19 [Sunday Examiner, 11 July 2021].
The campaign, launched on February 25 under the auspices of Shahid [Martyr] Father Stan Swamy Nyaya Morcha in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state, where the late priest worked among tribal people, is getting support from people from all walks of life, according to its organizers.
“We want justice for Father Swamy and others charged with a fake sedition case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a stringent anti-terror law in the country,” said Jesuit Father Thomas Kavala, who is part of the campaign.
Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensic firm, in a recent report said digital evidence was planted on Father Swamy’s computer to implicate him in the case, a finding contrary to the alleged claims by the country’s National Investigation Agency [NIA].
“Now it is clear that Father Swamy was willfully trapped in the case by the investigating agency and therefore, he and others accused in the false case should get justice,” Father Kavala said on March 1.
We want justice for Father Swamy and others charged with a fake sedition case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a stringent anti-terror law in the country,
Father Kavala
“We want to appeal to the government to drop the false charges levelled against the innocent persons, including Father Swamy, and want action against all those who worked behind this false case,” the priest said.
Father Swamy was arrested on 8 October 2020, by the NIA and accused of being a party to a conspiracy allegedly hatched by outlawed Maoist rebels to unleash violence that broke out at Bhima-Koregaon in the western state of Maharashtra on January 2018, though he had never visited the place. Sixteen others were accused in the case.
Father Swamy was nevertheless charged after the NIA claimed to have recovered digital evidence from his computer that linked him to the alleged crime.
The signature campaign also called for the immediate abolition of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The organisers also want to take the campaign across the state of Jharkhand. They plan to collect at least a million signatures to press their demands.
“We have a plan to organise at least 1,000 meetings across the state among the people for whom Father Swamy worked,” Father Kavala noted.
“The appeal,” he said, “would be handed over to President Droupadi Murmu, India’s first tribal president who hails from Jharkhand state.”
Father Swamy worked among indigenous people and raised his voice against their exploitation, which made him an irritant in the eyes of the state government and also of the federal government.
Earlier, Church leaders and rights activists had urged the government to drop charges against Father Swamy and others in light of the findings by Arsenal Consulting.
Neither the NIA nor the federal government has officially reacted to their demand.
The Jesuits in India have requested the Bombay High Court to clear the name of Father Swamy in the alleged false case.
