Sonia Gandhi, other opposition leaders write to President over Stan Swamy's death ''under custody''
New Delhi, Jul 6: Leaders of 10 opposition parties including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Tuesday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind expressing "outrage" at the death of Father Stan Swamy "under custody", and seeking his intervention in holding accountable those responsible for "foisting false cases" on the activist, his continued detention and "inhuman treatment".
The signatories also include NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former prime minister and JDS leader H D Deve Gowda and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (TMC), Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin (DMK) and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren (JMM) have also signed the letter, besides D Raja (CPI), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) and Tejashwi Yadav (RJD).
The 84-year-old priest-activist Stan Swamy, arrested under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Elgar Parishad case, died at a Mumbai hospital Monday in the middle of his fight for bail on health grounds.
"We the undersigned leaders of major opposition parties are writing to you in deep anguish expressing our intense grief and outrage at the death of Father Stan Swamy under custody," the opposition leaders said in their joint letter.
"We are urging your immediate intervention as the President of India to direct your government to act against those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment," they said.
"They must be held accountable. It is now incumbent that all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and other detenues under politically motivated cases, misusing draconian laws like UAPA, Sedition etc, be released forthwith," they said.
The leaders said the activist who championed the rights and causes of the adivasis in far flung areas of Jharkhand was jailed last October on "trumped-up" charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and was sought to be linked with the Bhima Koregaon case.
They have also alleged that he was denied treatment for his various ailments including the debilitating Parkinson's disease.
"Only after a nationwide campaign was conducted that even a sipper to drink liquids was made available to him in jail. The numerous appeals made to shift him out of the over-crowded Taloja jail that had seen a huge rise in Covid cases went unheeded.
"His appeals for bail and being sent home too were rejected. Thanks to the Bombay High Court's intervention he was admitted to a private hospital when his condition started deteriorating after he was infected with Covid. But it was too late to prevent his death in custody," they also claimed in their letter.
Dr Ian D'souza, director of the Bandra-based private Holy Family Hospital, where Swamy was undergoing treatment, and the tribal rights activist's lawyer Mihir Desai on Monday informed a bench of the Bombay High Court of his death following cardiac arrest
In a tweet, Yechury said on Tuesday, "Leaders of major opposition parties urge intervention of President of India to hold accountable those responsible for the detention, inhuman treatment and death of Fr Stan Swamy. Release all detenues detained by misusing UAPA/Sedition etc., on politically motivated charges."
Opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, @mkstalin, @SitaramYechury, @HemantSorenJMM, @yadavtejashwi, write to President demanding release of Bhima-Koregaon political prisoners and other prisoners under UAPA and sedition laws. pic.twitter.com/3ZvKOlIelq
— Meena Kandasamy | #BJPKilledStanSwamy (@meenakandasamy) July 6, 2021
Leaders of major opposition parties urge intervention of President of India to hold accountable those responsible for the detention, inhuman treatment and death of Fr Stan Swamy.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) July 6, 2021
Release all detenues detained by misusing UAPA/Sedition etc., on politically motivated charges. pic.twitter.com/om15utGfr9
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Over 17,000 people went missing in Delhi in 2024: NCRB
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 23,058 people, comprising 9,482 men and 13,576 women, were reported missing in Delhi in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Of the total, 5,491 were children below the age of 18 — 1,571 boys, 3,920 girls.
The city recorded 17,567 fresh adult missing persons cases in 2024, comprising 7,911 men and 9,656 women.
According to the NCRB data, released on Wednesday, 14,637 men, 18,238 women and six transgender persons were still missing from previous years.
At the latest count, in 2024, Delhi had a total of 55,939 missing persons cases — 24,119 men, 31,814 women and six transgender persons.
In 2024, police traced or collected 28,392 missing persons, including 12,182 men, 16,208 women and two transgender persons.
Only half of the men and half of the women who went missing could be traced.
A total of 27,547 missing persons – 11,937 men, 15,606 women, four transgender persons — were yet to be untraced by the end of the year, the data showed.
The data also revealed that 5,352 children from previous years remained untraced at the beginning of 2024.
The number of still missing boys was 1,621, and the number of missing girls was 3,729. Two transgender children were yet to be found.
After adding the pending cases from previous years, the total number of missing children cases handled in 2024 rose to 10,843.
The police traced or recovered 6,762 missing children — 2,030 boys, 4,732 girls.
The recovery rate stood at 63.6 per cent for boys and 61.9 per cent for girls, while no transgender child was traced.
By the end of 2024, a total of 4,081 children remained untraced, 1,162 of them boys, 2,917 girls, and two transgender children.
