Tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy passes away in Mumbai

Stan Swamy. File pic

Tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy passed away on Monday, his counsel informed the Bombay High Court when the court took up his bail plea.

An accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, 84-year-old Swamy died at 1.30 pm on Monday, Dr Ian D'Souza, director of the Holy Family Hospital in suburban Bandra, told the HC.

The tribal rights activist was admitted to the private hospital on May 29 from the Taloja prison following the HC's order on a petition filed by him, seeking medical attention as he was then suffering from Covid-19 and Parkinson's disease.

D'Souza told the court that Swamy suffered a cardiac arrest early Sunday morning following which he was put on ventilator support. "He (Swamy) did not recover and passed away this afternoon," the official told the court.

The cause of the death is pulmonary infection, Parkinson's disease and post Covid-19 complications, he said.

Swamy's counsel Mihir Desai said there was negligence on part of the Taloja prison authorities, who failed to provide immediate medical attention to the Jesuit priest.

The health condition of Stan Swamy was critical and till late Sunday night (July 4), the Jesuit priest was on ventilator support.

Swamy has been undergoing treatment at the Holy Family Hospital following a court order on May 28. On July 3, his lawyer Mihir Desai had told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar that Swamy's health was critical and that he was still in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU). The bench had then adjourned the hearing on Swamy's medical bail plea to July 6 and extended his stay at the hospital till then.

Swamy was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in October 2020 and had been in jail since then. In the Elgar-Parishad case, Swamy and his co-accused had been charged by the NIA as being members of frontal organisations working on behalf of the banned CPI (Maoists).

(With inputs from PTI)