Global Campaign for the Liberation of Indian Jesuit Fr. Stan Swamy, SJ

The Society of Jesus around the world is mobilizing to demand the release of the 83-year-old Jesuit veteran unjustly detained for his human rights activism in Ranchi.

On the evening of October 8, 2020, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Father Stan Swamy SJ, an 83-year-old Jesuit from the Jamshedpur Jesuit Province, at his residence in Ranchi, Jharkhand – India. The Society of Jesus worldwide is mobilizing to strongly condemn the arrest of Father Stan Swamy, demand his immediate release and ask that the State refrain from arbitrarily detaining innocent law-abiding citizens.

After his arrest, Fr. Stan was transferred to Mumbai for questioning in connection with the Elgar Parishad event that preceded the violence between Dalits and Marathas in Bhima Koregaon near Pune on 31 December 2017. The NIA accuses him of having personal ties to extremist groups of Maoists and Naxalites. Stan is the latest of 16 detainees, including well-known rights defenders Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bharadwaj, lawyers, and writers Vernon Gonsalvez and Varavara Rao.

Father Stan, a human rights defender, founded Bagaicha, a Jesuit-run Social Action Center where he has worked for the past 15 years. His work has focused on defending and protecting the rights of Adivasi (indigenous) communities as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Fr Stan’s room was raided twice, once on August 28, 2018 and again on June 12, 2019, and he was interrogated for more than 15 hours over a period of 5 days in July – August 2020.

Stan Swamy professed his commitment to the Indian Constitution and to peaceful protest methods, while questioning any injustice committed against the Adivasis (Indians) by the State and the police. He always dared to call for justice and to expose the large-scale abuse of power against the Adivasis through the use of anti-terrorism and sedition laws and the appropriation of land without due process of law. He also meticulously documented and published the unspeakable suffering of hundreds of young Adivasis, who were falsely implicated and imprisoned for exercising their right to defend their livelihoods.

Stan received a charge sheet and was taken to jail. He is charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, under which bail is denied to the accused. Two days before his arrest, Fr. Stan had recorded a video to be released in case the arrest took place.

We, as Jesuits engaged in works of education, care and defence of the rights of poor and vulnerable people and communities around the world, stand in solidarity with Stan and other human rights defenders in India and strongly condemn the arrest of Fr. Stan Swamy, demand his immediate release and urge the State to refrain from arbitrarily detaining innocent law-abiding citizens.

What can I do?

• Help us to spread this blatant case of human rights violation among your contacts and on social networks with the hashtag #StandWithStan #ReleaseStanSwamy
• Petition of signatures supported by Fr. George Pattery President of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia “Appeal for Fr. Stan Swamy”. «Appeal for Fr. Stan Swamy» Sign here
• If you want more information you can read the document written by the Secretary of Social Justice and Ecology of the General Curia of the Jesuits in Rome. (In Spanish | In English | In Italian) Or the press release of the President of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia. Access the document here.

Information developed from the SJES publication and material prepared by the Conference of Provincials of South Asia (JCSA).

More Information in Indian National Press