Citizens' Accountability LedgerWho owned the mess? 25 years, every party, on the record

Case 50 · Rights and dissent

Stan Swamy. An 84-year-old dies an undertrial

05 Jul 2021

Custodial death. Bail refused to the end.

1,867 days since Nobody has been held to account.

Human cost
An 84-year-old priest and tribal-rights activist, dead in custody, never tried, never convicted
Financial cost Est
A chilling message to every ageing or ailing activist facing the UAPA

What happened

Father Stan Swamy, jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case under the anti-terror UAPA, was denied bail and, at first, even a straw and sipper cup to drink with, and died in custody as an undertrial.

Claim against record

What the government said

Agencies maintained the case was a grave national-security matter that followed due legal process.

What the record shows

Custodial death. Bail refused to the end.

The state opposed his bail even as his body gave out. No one answered for the death of an octogenarian held for months without trial under a law whose bail bar is almost impossible to clear. This was punishment by process, with the process itself as the sentence.

What accountability should have looked like

Humane bail for the old and the sick, a workable UAPA bail standard, and accountability for deaths of undertrials in state custody.

Ministers and office-holders responsible

Naming who held the portfolio is a matter of public record. It is not by itself a finding of personal responsibility for any death or any rupee.

Sources

T1 primary record · T2 reporting · T3 partisan

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Cite or export this case

Citizens' Accountability Ledger, "Stan Swamy. An 84-year-old dies an undertrial" (05 Jul 2021), case-14. https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-14/

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