"Negligent Jails, Indifferent Courts": Family, Friends On Stan Swamy's Death

In a statement, family members and friends of activist Stan Swamy said it was "unconscionable" that someone as old as Swamy and who was suffering poor health was put in jail amid a pandemic.

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. Stan 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.