Maha govt submits Father Stan Swamy medical records to HC

Mumbai:The Maharashtra government on Tuesday submitted to the Bombay High Court the medical records of late Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case who died in a city hospital while being in judicial custody last week awaiting a medical bail.A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar, who was hearing the case after perusing the records, took the same in court record.

Chief public prosecutor Aruna Pai told the court that the state had submitted "a compilation of Swamy's complete medical records" since the time he was lodged in the Taloja prison as an undertrial.Fr Swamy passed away at a private hospital here on July 5, some time before the high court was all set to hear his bail plea.

The Jesuit priest -- hailing from Trichy in Tamil Nadu – was suffering from hearing loss, lumbar spondylosis, complications arising out of Covid-19, lung problems and Parkinson's.On July 3, he suffered a cardiac arrest and was shifted to the intensive care unit but could not be revived and breathed his last on afternoon of July 5 at around 1330 hours.

Fr Swamy had also filed a fresh plea in the high court, challenging section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which imposes stringent bars on the grant of bail to an accused charged under the Act.

Last month, NIA had filed an affidavit before the high court opposing Fr Swamy's bail plea, arguing that there did not exist a "conclusive proof" of his medical ailments. It also alleged that the priest was a Maoist, who had hatched a conspiracy to create unrest in the country.

In the Elgar-Parishad case, Fr Swamy and his co-accused have been charged by NIA as being members of frontal organizations working on behalf of the banned CPI (Maoists).

The Elgar Parishad case is related to inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima War Memorial located on the outskirts of the city.Police had claimed the conclave was organized by people with alleged Maoist links.

NIA opposes Elgar Parishad accused's plea

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday strongly opposed a petition filed by human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, along with other accused alleging that the case is 'politically motivated' and also challenged the transfer of investigation from Pune police to NIA.

In response to the petition, NIA has submitted an affidavit before the Bombay High Court claiming that Adv Gadling and other accused in the case have filed several petitions to derail the investigation and that the sole intention of the investigating agency is to protect sovereign India from terrorism, including Naxalism which has plagued the country.

The affidavit was filed by Vikram Khalate, superintendent of police, NIA.NIA affidavit further claimed that the petitioner is trying to scandalise and question the agency’s credibility, which is fighting for the prevention of unlawful and terrorist activities in the country, in which the Naxal plague has caused destruction at many levels.

Also, Gadling, being an accused, as such cannot “be aggrieved” by the decision to hand over the investigation to NIA, read the affidavit.During the hearing before the high court, Gadling’s advocate S B Talekar informed a division bench of Justices S Shinde and N Jamdar that the state and the central governments have failed to file a reply whereas NIA has filed its affidavit in the case.

NIA's counsel Sandesh Patil said that he was unaware of the affidavit and needed time to go through it.“It seems an affidavit has been filed. Give us one week to put our house in order,” he added.The court adjourned the further hearing for two weeks.(UNI)