VISAKHAPATNAM: Rights organisations blamed the government for the death of Father Stan Swamy, who died on Monday in a private hospital where he was shifted in May after his health began deteriorating. Speaking at a demonstration at Gandhi statue near GVMC office, CPI State assistant secretary JV Satyanarayana Murthy and Human Rights Forum (HRF) representative VS Krishna said, bail norms of ‘Bail is rule, jail is an exception’ were not followed in the case of 84-year-old Fr Stan Swamy who had been suffering from Parkinson disease.
They added, “Justice was not done to Stan Swamy. When a number of hardcore criminals were granted bail during the Covid pandemic, Stan Swamy was imprisoned because he fought against attacks on tribals and exploitation of forest wealth. As many as 16 intellectuals and praja sanghala leaders have been languishing in jails in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case.”
They demanded that the draconian and anti-democratic laws such as UAPA should be abolished immediately. Led by APCLC convener P Chandrasekhar, rights activists and left party leaders paid rich tributes to Stan Swamy. Civil society leaders Katti Padma, M Lakshmi, M Kondaiah, advocate Jahara, and intellectuals such as KS Chalam and others were present. Speaking at a separate protest programme, CPI city secretary B Ganga Rao demanded an enquiry into the death of Stan Swamy.