New Delhi, July 07, 2021 (PPI-OT):Leaders of ten major opposition parties of India have written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind complaining of “inhuman treatment” meted out to Father Stan Swamy who died at a Mumbai hospital on Monday after battling a prolonged illness.
In the letter, they have sought President’s intervention in holding accountable those responsible for “foisting false cases” on the Jesuit priest, his continued detention in jail and “inhuman treatment” that allegedly caused his death, South Asian Wire reported.
Those who have signed the letter are: Congress president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, CPI’s D Raja and CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury.
“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,” they said in their letter to the president.
The letter said the 84-year-old human rights 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 UAPA and was sought to be linked with the Bhima Koregaon case”.
It added that Father Stan Swamy was denied treatment for his various ailments including debilitating Parkinson’s. “Only after a nationwide campaign was conducted that even a sipper to drink liquids was made available to him in jail.”
“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,” the opposition leaders said in their letter.
Leaders of ten major opposition parties of India have written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind complaining of “inhuman treatment” meted out to Father Stan Swamy who died at a Mumbai hospital on Monday after battling a prolonged illness.
In the letter, they have sought President’s intervention in holding accountable those responsible for “foisting false cases” on the Jesuit priest, his continued detention in jail and “inhuman treatment” that allegedly caused his death, South Asian Wire reported.
Those who have signed the letter are: Congress president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, CPI’s D Raja and CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury.
“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,” they said in their letter to the president.
The letter said the 84-year-old human rights 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 UAPA and was sought to be linked with the Bhima Koregaon case”.
It added that Father Stan Swamy was denied treatment for his various ailments including debilitating Parkinson’s. “Only after a nationwide campaign was conducted that even a sipper to drink liquids was made available to him in jail.”
“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,” the opposition leaders said in their letter.
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