Stan Swamy's death an 'institutional murder': Family, friends on Stan Swamy's death
New Delhi, Jul 6: Terming activist Stan Swamy's death an "institutional murder", the family members and friends of the other accused arrested in the Elgar Parishad case said on Tuesday that they held the "negligent jails, indifferent courts and malicious investigating agencies" responsible for it.
In a statement, they said it was "unconscionable" that someone as old as Swamy and who was suffering poor health was put in jail amid a pandemic.
They also said that they feared for the lives of their family members and colleagues in jails who were facing "similar injustices" in jails.
Swamy was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Ranchi in October 2020 under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in connection with the Elgar Parishad case and lodged at the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai.
The 84-year-old died at the Holy Family Hospital, where he was admitted on May 29, in Mumbai on Monday, a day after he suffered a cardiac arrest and was put on ventilator support.
The Elgar Parishad case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made by some activists at a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. Police claim these speeches triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the city and that the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.
"We, the friends and family members of those accused in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, are deeply pained and shaken to the core by the loss of Father Stan Swamy. This is not a natural death but the institutional murder of a gentle soul committed by an inhuman state," the statement said.
"Having spent his life amongst the 'Adivasis' in Jharkhand, fighting for their right to resources and lands, Father Stan did not deserve to die in this manner, far from his beloved Jharkhand, falsely imprisoned by a vindictive state," it said.
"Even his Covid disease was not diagnosed in jail and could only be detected after he was moved to the hospital on orders of the (Bombay) high court," it added.
Swamy was the last of the 16 people to be arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he was the oldest and the frailest among those arrested, the statement said.
"While we grieve at the passing away of Father Stan Swamy, we unequivocally hold the negligent jails, the indifferent courts and the malicious investigating agencies firmly responsible for his unfortunate death. We fear for the health and lives of our family members and colleagues, who are facing similar injustices in the same jails, under the same unaccountable system," it added.
The statement further said, "We continue our vigil for everyone's safety and security, and as Father Stan would appreciate, 'we refuse to be silent spectators and are ready to pay the price!'"
Swamy had said he had never been to Bhima Koregaon.
NIA officials had said investigations established that he was actively involved in the activities of the CPI (Maoist). The agency also alleged that he was in contact with "conspirators" to further the group's activities.
Others arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case include some of India's most respected scholars, lawyers, academicians and activists.
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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.
