Activist Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case passed away on Monday. The 84-year-old Jesuit priest was put on ventilator support after his condition deteriorated on Sunday. Swamy's lawyers had sought an urgent hearing on his medical bail plea.
Swamy, who was in jail for the last seven months, was booked for alleged criminal conspiracy and sedition under the UAPA by NIA in the Bhima Koregaon case. A tribal rights activist, he worked for over 5 decades in Jharkhand, fighting for the rights of the adivasi community.
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Swamy and his co-accused in the Elgar case have repeatedly complained of inadequate health facilities at the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, where they were lodged as undertrials. Through their pleas filed in the HC as well as oral and written statements made in the HC, they have complained several times of neglect on part of the Taloja prison authorities in ensuring medical aid, timely tests and maintaining hygiene and social distancing.
In May this year, Swamy told a vacation bench of the high court via video-conferencing that his health had consistently declined at the Taloja prison. He had urged the HC to release him on interim bail at that time and said if things continued the way they were, he "would die soon".
- With PTI inputs
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