The Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered the Taloja Central prison to arrange for the medical examination of Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old tribal activist who is a co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, at the JJ Hospital which has also been directed to form an expert committee for the same, Live Law reported.
The court asked the prison superintendent to arrange for Swamy’s visit to the hospital on Thursday for his medical check-up, the JJ Hospital committee to submit their reports by 11 am on Friday and ordered to produce Swamy before the court via video conference on the same day.
“The Dean of JJ Hospital to constitute a committee of doctors including neuro-physician, ENT, Orthoped, General Physician and any other doctor required to examine the appellant’s complaints and submit its report by 11 am on May 21,” the court ordered.
In January 2018, violence broke out a day after the annual celebration called the Elgar Parishad at Bhima Koregaon, a panchayat village in Maharashtra, to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. In 1818, Dalits of the village fought the battle as soldiers (mahars) in the British army and defeated the Brahmin Peshwa Bajirao II.
Swamy and 15 other activists and scholars were accused of having Maoist links, who were accused of backing the event that led to the violence, and were arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and await trial for the past three years.
Based in Jharkhand, Swamy worked several years for the rights of the Adivasi communities. He was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency on October 8, 2020. Swamy had filed a petition in the court against the state demanding undertrial prisoners to be released on a personal bond, which he believes to be “the reason for involving him in a serious case” and to “stall the judicial process to give justice to the poor innocent Adivasis”.
The NIA had claimed in the chargesheet that Swamy is a CPI (Maoist) cadre who was communicating with other cadres, receiving funds from them and that he was a convenor of CPI (Maoists)’s frontal organisation- Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee. It also claimed that it had recovered incriminating documents, literature and propaganda from him which he denied saying they were “fabricated”.
His bail application was pending with the court since November 2020 on the grounds that he was being framed in the case by the NIA due to the nature of his work and on medical grounds. The plea mentioned that he was suffering from ailments, including Parkinson’s Disease that causes tremors in his hands, hearing loss, has undergone two hernia operations, and suffers intense pain due to lumbar spondylosis.
Challenging the rejection of his bail plea by the NIA court in March 2021, Swamy moved the Bombay High Court in April asking for an interim bail citing the rising cases of Covid-19 inside the prison along with his other critical medical conditions.
The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a human rights organisation, demanded the Maharashtra government to shift Swamy from Taloja jail, where an “ayurvedic doctor suggested antibiotics”, to a good hospital immediately. Hoping for his interim bail, they also mentioned that the Adivasis, Gram Sabhas, civil society, several political leaders and parties along with the chief minister himself have extended their support and expressed solidarity with him.
We request Maharashtra home minister @Dwalsepatil to immediately shift Stan to a good hospital. It will be really helpful if he is shifted to a hospital where his Jesuit colleagues can take care of him. @OfficeofUT @CMOMaharashtra @satejp @supriya_sule @AUThackeray https://t.co/gZqxGdWxaM pic.twitter.com/Y3yK2EOvIV
— Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (@JharkhandJanad1) May 17, 2021
“Stan Swamy is severely unwell. Yet to be tested for covid or vaccinated. Taloja does not even have an allopathic doctor. Similar situation of many BK16 accused. We appeal to @CMOMaharashtra to immediately ensure adequate medical treatment, testing & vaccine to Stan & others,” the tweet further read.
Following Swamy’s complaint of cough, fever, an upset stomach and a feeling of weakness or fragility, he was admitted to the state-run JJ Hospital on Tuesday.
It’s a small victory but we must celebrate.
Finally, 84 year old Father #StanSwamy sent to JJ hospital at 5pm from Taloja Jail https://t.co/c1KrLrLSPl
— Natasha Badhwar (@natashabadhwar) May 18, 2021
But he was taken back to the Taloja prison on Tuesday after performing a few tests.
While Varavara Rao, the 82-year-old Telugu poet and activist, is the only one among the 16 accused to have been got bail, 14 co-accused still await their trial.
Hany Babu, the Delhi-based professor who is also co-accused in the case, had moved the Bombay High Court seeking medical aid regarding a severe eye infection that he developed due to black fungus after testing positive for Covid-19 last week. He had initially been admitted to a state-run hospital and was undergoing treatment until Wednesday when the court ordered Babu to be shifted to Breach Candy hospital by Thursday.
The court will hear his matter on June 9.
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The Bombay High Court has also directed the NIA to submit detailed medical reports of jailed co-accused advocate and activist Sudha Bharadwaj in response to her bail plea by Thursday. The plea is based on the medical grounds that she is diabetic, has been suffering heart diseases, had a history of tuberculosis and has a high risk of contracting Covid-19 inside the prison.
On May 12, the Supreme Court dismissed co-accused journalist Gautam Navlakha’s default bail application once again.
Meanwhile, a private forensics firm approached by the lawyer of Rona Wilson, another co-accused in the case who was arrested in June 2018, has found malware in Wilson’s laptop that was one of the key evidences in the case