Editor’s word: Father Stan Swamy and Arun Ferreira had been among the many 16 members of civil society – attorneys, professors, poets – who had been arrested below anti-terror legal guidelines in a case associated to caste violence in Bhima Koregaon village exterior Pune in 2018. It’s also generally known as the Elgar Parishad case – the identify of a gathering held to commemorate the function of Dalit troopers in a battle in 1818 in defeating the military of the Peshwa, who had the status for being casteist.
The federal government claims that the 16 individuals arrested had conspired to instigate the violence and different acts of terror throughout the nation. However since then, impartial researchers have produced technical studies alleging that the proof being marshalled in opposition to them had been planted on digital gadgets by hackers.
Ferreira was incarcerated together with Swamy within the jail hospital. He has been now launched on bail however one of many circumstances disallows him from commenting in regards to the case within the media.
“This isn’t a pure demise, however the institutional homicide of a delicate soul,” reads the assertion by the members of the family of the individuals accused within the Elgar Parishad case that was launched instantly after Father Stan Swamy’s demise on July 5, 2021.
Some could think about these phrases a bit too harsh given Stan’s age (he was 84) and well being (he had Parkinson’s illness). Nevertheless observing and experiencing the callous remedy meted out to Stan at Taloja Jail, I’m inclined to endorse their view.
On December 5, 2020, on Stan’s request, I used to be allowed by the authorities to remain in his cell on the jail hospital. He wished to be stored with one in every of his co-accused in order to have some significant dialog. These had been Covid instances: no accused had been being taken to court docket, no bodily mulakaats with household or pals permitted, no newspapers allowed and restrictions on the actions of all inmates in jail. For Stan, like the remainder of us, being in contact and in dialog with our co-accused meant every little thing.
On the time Stan entered the Taloja Jail exterior Mumbai, medical care on the jail hospital was supervised by three individuals with BAMS levels (they had been Bachelors of Ayurvedic Drugs and Surgical procedure) and a pharmacist. This was the state of affairs earlier than and through Covid.
Other than these handful of workers, all different duties reminiscent of administering medicines, intravenous injections, para-medical help and assist in the wards was undertaken by inmates whose labour was unpaid as it could be improper to have their help talked about anyplace on report.
A health care provider with experience in psychiatry would go to the jail as soon as every week. He supervised Stan’s medical care, however merely continued with the remedy he had been prescribed earlier than he was arrested.
The jail authorities made no effort to refer Stan to the Metropolis Civil Hospital regardless of his seen Parkinson’s tremors and weak bones. It’s not uncommon for the authorities to think about such medical circumstances unworthy of consideration.
Stan’s well being deteriorated significantly after he was jailed in October 2020. Earlier than this, he might handle with none help, however was later lowered to relying on the assistance of others, Finally, he needed to transfer onto the wheelchair.
I distinctly keep in mind that in the future early in Stan’s incarceration, when he wanted no help as such, the jail superintendent insisted that he pose for {a photograph} with seven or eight plastic sippers, a strolling stick, a walker, a cot, a wheelchair and a western commode chair. It had taken a court docket order for Stan to be allowed a sipper, with out which he couldn’t drink water by himself due to his tremors.
Stan stubbornly resisted, however the superintendent wished proof to show that he had offered amenities for any potential medical emergency, current or future. Looking back, the jailer most likely knew that circumstances in jail would ultimately cut back Stan to the wheelchair.
The deterioration quickly elevated in Might 2021. Anticipating a second spherical of Covid circumstances, the jail administration determined to empty all of the cells on the bottom ground of the jail hospital to create space for Covid sufferers and quarantine amenities. This meant that Stan, myself and the chachha who was our cellmate could be shifted to the primary ground.
We had combined emotions about this. Going to the primary ground would enable us to work together extra intently with one in every of our co-accused, Anand Teltumbde, who was on that ground. However Stan would miss his each day night walks within the hospital quadrangle.
Nevertheless, as in all such administrative transfers of prisoners, the selection is rarely ours. On Might 10, we had been shifted right into a cell on the primary ground of the hospital.
Anand might now speak to us day by day. We additionally briefly acquired to fulfill one other co-accused, Hany Babu, earlier than he was taken to a non-public hospital to deal with his eye an infection. However for Stan, issues had modified for the more serious. He instantly developed a extreme cough.
The Ayurvedic practitioner on responsibility determined that this ought to be handled by a robust antibiotic and prescribed a three-day course of Azithromycin. The cough subsided a bit, however then Stan acquired diarrhoea. As per prison-medical-practice, it was logical that this too needed to be handled with one other course of antibiotics. So Stan was moreover on dosages of Metronidazole and Ciprofloxacin. All this made Stan extraordinarily weak. He now required to make use of a walker within the hall.
By the subsequent weekly spherical of the jail superintendent and the senior-most Ayurvedic practitioner, Stan’s weak point was too obvious to disregard. He couldn’t even rise up. The physician who had earlier prescribed a medical food plan of boiled eggs and milk for Stan now suggested him to keep away from them as a result of diarrhoea. On report, the jail was offering Stan with a “excessive protein food plan” however in actuality this was not true. Stan had no different alternative however to eat much less as a method to regulate his diarrhoea.
He even felt it could not be correct to make use of extra water as a result of the youthful inmates within the hospital needed to carry bucket-loads of water from nearly half a kilometer away to fill the storage drum in our cell.
On noticing this stark deterioration, Anand and I insisted with the physician that Stan wanted to be hospitalised. In truth, the oximeter was each day indicating oxygen (SPO2) ranges of round 75%. The Ayurvedic physician claimed that both the oximeter was malfunctioning or that the readings had been incorrect as a result of Stan’s fingers had been wrinkled.
However regardless of him changing the oximeter or making an attempt a number of fingers, the readings didn’t change. Finally, when Stan was placed on oxygen, the medical doctors realised that the lone oxygen cylinder within the hospital was nearly empty. Although nonetheless weak and clearly ailing, on Might 18, 2021, Stan was administered his first dose of the Covid vaccine.
The exact same day, he was transported to the Metropolis Civil Hospital in South Mumbai. We couldn’t perceive the urgency of doing each on the identical day, however later realised that it was as a result of the Excessive Court docket was to listen to Stan’s utility for bail on medical grounds on the next day. The jail authorities needed to present that that they had performed their finest.
Later that night, when Stan returned to our cell, he was not solely visibly drained but in addition livid. The jail authorities had despatched him to the unsuitable division on the hospital. As a substitute of taking him to the neurology division, he was taken to the psychiatry division the place the interning medical doctors stored inquiring about his psychological well being.
On the next day, Might 19, in the course of the bail hearings earlier than the Excessive Court docket, the report of the jail authorities was taken on report. Amongst different issues, it said that Stan was being “offered excessive protein food plan on each day foundation; sizzling water for bathing each day; he has been offered two attendants (prisoners) at their very own willingness for his well being and essential care to keep away from fall; he’s additionally supplied with mattress, mattress sheet, pillow, wheel chair, walker, strolling stick, straws, sipper mug, sipper bottle, commode chair and battery cells for his listening to support” and that he “can also be examined and handled by visiting psychiatrist at common intervals”.
The bench went on to direct the jail authorities to take Stan to the Metropolis Civil Hospital in Mumbai the subsequent day for a medical check-up by a panel of specialist medical doctors reminiscent of a neuro doctor, ENT specialist, orthopedic surgeon and basic surgeon. Stan went to the hospital within the hope that he could be admitted and allowed to relaxation. However this time too, the visits to the assorted departments to be administered a battery of assessments drained him bodily. He returned to his cell within the night totally exhausted and disheartened.
It was on this context that Stan felt it was futile to go to a hospital exterior. If his authorized plea to be together with his personal was denied, he would like to die in jail. He had expressed this on-line to the Excessive Court docket bench listening to his bail petition. Nonetheless, on the subsequent date, Might 28, the bench allowed Stan to be handled in a non-public hospital. On reaching the non-public hospital, the failure of the jail division was uncovered. Stan was discovered to be Covid optimistic.
Explanations had been speedy. The jail superintendent and physician informed me that Stan had contracted the virus after leaving the jail gate and earlier than getting into the non-public hospital.
It’s this callousness and negligence of the jail division and its supervising establishments which might be primarily answerable for the demise of Father Stan Swamy. Different establishments are equally accountable and are occasion to his demise.
Arun Ferreira, is an activist, cartoonist and lawyer.
