Protests over Stan Swamy arrest in Bhima Koregaon case

Investigators said that speeches made at an Elgar Parishad event, which was allegedly funded by Maoists, aggravated caste clashes that broke out near Bhima Koregaon village on January 1, 2018. One person died in the clashes that also sparked widespread protests by Dalit groups.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 83-year-old activist Father Stan Swamy from Ranchi in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, officials said on Friday, a move that triggered protests days after Swamy said students and activist were being put “in jail because they have expressed their dissent”.

Social activists hold placards during a protest after National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 82-year-old Father Stan Swamy on Thursday evening, for his alleged involvement in Bhima Koregaon violence, in Ranchi.(PTI)

Investigators said that speeches made at an Elgar Parishad event, which was allegedly funded by Maoists, aggravated caste clashes that broke out near Bhima Koregaon village on January 1, 2018. One person died in the clashes that also sparked widespread protests by Dalit groups.

An NIA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Swamy was arrested in connection with the violence near Pune. A special NIA court in Mumbai remanded Swamy in judicial custody till October 23 as the probe agency did not seek his remand. He was questioned twice earlier by Pune Police and NIA and was detained from his residence on Thursday evening and placed under arrest later for alleged links with the banned CPI (Maoist), the official said.

In a video, which was shot two days before his arrest, Swamy said that he has never been to Bhima Koregaon, “for which I am being made an accused”.

“Now they want me to go to Mumbai, which I have said that I won’t go,” he said, referring to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. “The Jharkhand state government has given a directive that during the lockdown the elderly people above the age of 65 should not appear in public and if the investigating agency wants to interrogate me, it can do it through video-conferencing,” he said.

“...what is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone, it is a broader process taking place all over the country. We all are aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders are all put in jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India,” Swamy said in the video. He said he is part of “the process” and in a way happy to be so because he is not a silent spectator and is part of the game. “I am ready to pay the price whatever be it,” Swamy said.

The NIA official said that literature, propaganda material of the CPI (Maoist) and documents related to communications for furthering the group’s programmes were seized from Swamy’s possession.

The activist is the 16th person to be arrested in the case, in which people have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Bhima Koregaon case was taken over by the NIA on January 24 this year.

In a statement, about 2,000 activists from across the country condemned the arrest of the 83-year-old and said the move was an attack on all those working for human and constitutional rights in Jharkhand.

“We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the arrest of Jharkhand’s Stan Swamy by the NIA in the Bhima-Koregaon case on the evening of 8 October 2020. Stan Swamy, 84 years old, is a valued and public-spiritedness citizen who has worked for Adivasi rights since decades in Jharkhand,” the statement, released by the Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch, a body of civil society groups in the state, said.

The statement, signed by economist Jean Drèze, Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, lawyer Rebecca John and activist Aruna Roy among others termed the case as “baseless fabrication” by the government.

“The central government, in the guise of the Bhima Koregaon case, is trying to build a false narrative of a national Maoist conspiracy against these activists. The main objective of the case is to target and harass activists who work for the rights of Adivasis, Dalits and the marginalised and raise questions against the anti-people policies of the government,” the statement said.