Indian Rights Activist Stan Swamy's Death A 'stain' On India's Rights Record: UN Expert

UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jul, 2021 ) :The recent death of Stan Swamy, a renowned Indian priest, in judicial custody will forever remain a stain on India's human rights record, a United Nations expert said on Thursday.

Swamy, 84, was jailed last October on "fabricated terrorism charges", and had been subjected to "harassment" and "repeated interrogations", Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said.

The Jesuit priest died in custody on 5 July, despite requests for his release as his health deteriorated, she said.

In a statement, Ms. Lawlor said that Swamy "had dedicated much of his life to defending the rights of indigenous peoples and the Adivasi minority" and that his death "will forever remain a stain on India's human rights record".

She said that she and other UN independent experts had approached the Indian authorities with their concerns about the case.

According to Ms. Lawlor, the priest's illness meant that he had severe tremors in both hands and had great difficulty eating, drinking and washing.

In November last year, she said that his requests for a drinking straw and warm winter clothes were denied, and that he contracted COVID-19 in prison.

"There is no excuse, ever, for a human rights defender to be smeared as a terrorist, and no reason they should ever die the way Father Swamy died, accused and detained, and denied his rights", the Special Rapporteur said.

Swamy, originally from Jamshedpur Province, Jharkhand State, was the founder of Bagaicha, a social research and training centre in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

He had been working for decades to protect the rights of Adivasi minority indigenous peoples and the Dalit minority, in particular violations involving forced displacement and illegal land acquisitions.

"We know that defenders working on environmental, land or indigenous people's rights are among the most vulnerable to being targeted", uMs. Lawlor stressed.

According to the UN Rapporteur, Swamy's case should remind all states that human rights defenders and all those detained without sufficient legal basis, should be released.