Three years after human rights activist and Catholic priest Stan Swamy died in police custody in a Mumbai hospital, his name remains to be cleared of the allegations against him in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case.

This is what activist Aloka Kujur reminded her fellow activists and supporters who had gathered at the Bagaicha Social Research Centre in Ranchi on Friday to commemorate Swamy’s third death anniversary.

The centre was founded by Swamy in 2006 to work for the rights of Adivasis and other marginalised groups.

Swamy was among a group of 16 lawyers and activists who had been accused of instigating caste violence between Maratha and Dalit groups in the Bhima Koregaon case in 2018 and was charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. He died on July 5, 2021, nearly nine months after he was arrested.

Seven of those arrested in the case are still in jail.

The 84-year-old had suffered from several ailments, including Parkinson’s disease and had contracted the coronavirus infection at the Taloja prison at Navi Mumbai.

In December 2022, a report by a United States-based digital forensics firm had said that a hacker planted evidence on a device owned by Swamy.

Lawyer Lalita Lakra, highlighting the importance Swamy held for Jharkhand’s Adivasis, said on Friday: “Father Stan should be considered a martyr, as he died fighting for Adivasi rights and he was treated as a criminal until the end.”

The day began with documentary filmmaker Meghnath garlanding a bust of Swamy, followed by a solo play by alternative theater director and artist Parnab Mukherjee in front of a Pathalgadi, or memorial stone plinth commemorating Jharkhand’s martyrs.

“It is important to remember that Father Stan was a believer of liberation theology,” said Mukherjee, referring to the theological approach that advocates for the political liberation of oppressed peoples.

A man pays homage to a bust of Adivasi rights activist Stan Swamy at an event to commemorate his third death anniversary. Nolina Minj/Scroll

Lawyers and activists discussed Swamy’s wrongful incarceration and his work highlighting the plight of thousands of Adivasi undertrials languishing in Jharkhand’s jails charged on allegedly flimsy grounds, including those arrested under anti-terror laws.

“The biggest mistake that Father Stan Sway made was to ask important questions about our legal system and for this, he was imprisoned and institutionally murdered,” advocate Shiv told the gathering.

“The law can be bent to serve the wealthy, but it criminalises the poor,” said Shiv.

Advocate Shiv said Stan Swamy was "institutionally murdered" as he asked important questions about the legal system. Nolina Minj/Scroll

In 2015, the Bagaicha team had conducted a study on undertrial prisoners accused of Maoist activities. They found that the large majority of prisoners came from Adivasi, Dalit and other marginalised groups.

Ninety-six percent of the prisoners earned less than Rs 5,000 a month and 97% stated that they were imprisoned under false charges. In 2018, Swamy had filed a public interest litigation in the Jharkhand High Court asking for the undertrial prisoners to be released.

Activists also took the anniversary as an opportunity to discuss the new criminal laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam – that came into effect on Monday.

“The new laws have aspects which normalise the draconian provisions of the UAPA,” said activist Siraj Dutta.

Kujur recalled how Swamy had lent his support to all social movements in the state which he felt were committed to a righteous cause. “Stan used democratic ways of raising human rights issues,” she said. “We all need to unite to continue his work and take it ahead.”

Also read: How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison