NEW DELHI: Elgar Parishad case accused Fr Stan Swamy, against whom NIA had filed a chargesheet the day after his arrest and never sought his police custody in view of his age and “sufficient evidences...already on record”, was given a separate cell at Taloja prison hospital with all necessary precautions and two attendants as per advice of the jail’s medical officer, said government sources on Monday.
At the Taloja central prison, where Swamy was lodged soon after his arrest on October 8, 2020, a source said he was provided with all facilities, including a wheelchair, a walker, a walking stick, a straw, a sipper, a mug, a commode chair, battery cells for his hearing machines, dental treatment, a visiting psychiatrist and telemedicine.
NIA had earlier termed as “false, incorrect and mischievious” reports that it had seized Swamy’s straw and sipper from his Ranchi home and sought 20 days’ time to hand over these items to him.
A government source said the 84-year-old Jesuit priest was arrested after the Elgar Parishad probe revealed him to be an alleged member of the banned CPI (Maoist) involved in furthering its activities. He was found in communication with CPI (Maoist) cadres and was convener of Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), a frontal organisation of CPI (Maoist), as per the chargesheet. In the letters, he had allegedly expressed concern over leakage of communications between Maoist leaders, leading to the arrest of various key cadres.
Government sources said that at the time of his arrest on October 8, 2020, by NIA in Ranchi, Swamy was informed of the grounds for his arrest in the presence of his advocate Peter Margin. Information was also conveyed to his acquaintance Soloman David. All medical formalities after arrest were complied with. Utmost care was taken for his safe and comfortable transit from Ranchi to Mumbai and all entitlements of the accused in detention, including food, were taken care of, said government sources.
Swamy was examined by the medical practitioner and his health condition certified as stable as per Section 54 of CrPC. Government sources said he had made no complaints to the special court about any “ill-treatment” from the investigating officers.
Father Swamy filed bail applications before the Bombay high court but these were rejected. On May 21, 2021, he filed a criminal appeal before the high court, regarding which the state of Maharashtra filed a medical report of the board of doctors constituted by J J Hospital. He was advised by court to be treated at J J Hospital but refused to get admitted. The high court, on May 28, 2021, allowed his prayer to be shifted and said he be treated at Holy Family Hospital, Bandra, along with one attendant. The state of Maharashtra was directed to provide him protection during treatment.
