Koregaon-Bhima case: Stan Swamy was arrested in October last year
Mumbai:
Tribal rights activist Stan Swamy will be taken to a hospital in Mumbai tomorrow for a medical check-up and a report on his health will be given to the Bombay High Court. The court will also hear Mr Swamy’s bail plea on medical grounds on Friday.
Mr Swamy, 84, suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He was arrested in October last year over his alleged involvement in the Koregaon-Bhima case. He has been battling ill health at Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
The Koregaon-Bhima case involves violence that erupted in the vicinity of a war memorial in the village of that name on January 1, 2018. This was allegedly after provocative speeches were made during the Elgar Parishad conclave held a day earlier at Shaniwarwada in Pune.
Mr Swamy’s lawyer, Mihir Desai, had submitted a note in the high court detailing the lack of medical aid at Taloja prison, the impossibility of social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the overcrowded jail, and his generally deteriorating health.
At a hearing on May 4, Mr Swamy’s lawyer told the high court that since his arrest seven months ago, he remained in Taloja jail hospital, which has just three Ayurveda doctors and no other physicians or trained medical staff.
The lawyer said Mr Swamy was in advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease.
Dozens of activists were named as accused in the Koregaon-Bhima case, which was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The special NIA court that is hearing the case had refused bail to Mr Swamy. The NIA has said there is evidence Mr Swamy schemed a “serious conspiracy” with members of a Maoist group to create unrest in the country.