Braving heavy rain, over 50 people comprising activists, intellectuals, students and representatives of civil rights groups came together at Albert Ekka Chowk here on Friday to form a human chain to protest against the “injustice” meted out to Father Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest who died in judicial custody in Mumbai early this month after being denied bail on health grounds.
Holding placards and banners, the protestors termed Stan’s death "institutional murder" and demanded the anullment of UAPA to stop unending attacks on the right to dissent by the ruling regime. Prominent social and tribal activist Dayamani Barla, who was in the gathering, said that the event was part of a national campaign to seek justice for Swamy being pu together by over 100 organisations.
“The way an 84-year-old person, who worked all his life for the cause of the poor and tribals, was arrested by NIA and later treated in jail, despite his age and his ailments, speaks volumes of the way the Centre disregarded human rights violations of people who have been critical of its anti-people policies. Despite this, Stan Swamy continued to fight till his last breath. But several like him, who were embroiled in false cases for political reasons, are continuing to face the ire of draconian laws like UAPA. We demand the repeal of UAPA and the release of rights activists and innocent people jailed in sedition cases,” she said over phone.
A delegation of rights activists is scheduled to submit a memorandum to Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais on Saturday, said an activist associated with Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM).
Siraj Datta of JJM said, "Our memorandum will place half a dozen demands before the governor. We demand justice for Stan Swamy, repeal of UAPA, sedition act and other draconian laws, the release all political prisoners, restoration of the right to bail, accountability for filing false cases and compensation to victims, immediate withdrawal of pathalgadi cases and end of police repression in Jharkhand,” he said.
Swamy was arrested in October last year by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the violence in Bhima Koregaon in 2018 and was booked under UAPA for alleged links with Maoists. He was among a dozen other human rights activists across the country arrested by the NIA in the case causing global uproar.
