Indian Jesuit’s body cremated under prison rules

Indian Jesuit’s body cremated under prison rules

The body of 84-year-old Indian Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, who died under detention, was cremated on July 6 after a court asked Jesuit officials to follow prison rules.

The body of Father Swamy, who died of post-Covid-19 complications on July 5 in church-run Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai, was taken to a government crematorium after a requiem Mass.

“Although he was free from Covid-19, we have been asked by the court to follow prison rules,” Jesuit Father Joseph Xavier said at the end of the July 6 funeral service after announcing the decision to cremate the priest’s body.

Father Swamy’s body was cremated in an electric crematorium at around 6.30pm after the funeral Mass, Father Joseph told UCA News on July 7.

Father Joseph, director of the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute based in Bengaluru city, was an associate of the deceased social activist priest.

He joined the funeral service and Mass led by Father Arun De Souza, Jesuit provincial of Mumbai, along with Father Frazer Mascarenhas, parish priest of St. Peter’s Church in Bandra, a Mumbai suburb, where the service was held.

Only some 20 people attended the service because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Jesuits said the ashes will be carried to Ranchi town in eastern India where the missionary priest was based and to Jamshedpur town, the base of his Jesuit province.

Father Stanislaus Arulswamy, known popularly as Stan Swamy, was admitted to Holy Family Hospital on May 28 following a court order after his health deteriorated in jail.

Father Swamy, who had Parkinson’s disease, developed a pulmonary infection, post-Covid-19 complications in the lungs and pneumonia, according to the hospital’s medical director Ian D’Souza.

The priest suffered a cardiac arrest early on July 4. He was put on a ventilator and never regained consciousness, doctors told the court on July 5, announcing the death.

Father Swamy died following medical complications, said an official statement of the federal Ministry of External Affairs under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The government statement said Father Swamy was arrested and detained last October by India’s anti-terrorism police, the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

“Because of the specific nature of charges against him, his bail applications were rejected by the courts … All such actions are strictly in accordance with the law,” the statement said.

The NIA accused the priest, who worked among the tribal people of Jharkhand state, of a political conspiracy with outlawed Maoist rebels to destabilize the federal government.

The priest had denied the charges and said in a message soon after his arrest that his detention was part of a plan to silence criticism of the government.

“What is happening to me is not something unique, happening to me alone. It is a broader process that is taking place all over the country. We are all aware of how prominent intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, student leaders — they are all put in jail just because they have expressed their dissent … I am ready to pay the price, whatever it may be,” he said.

The government statement came after the media sought an official response to the death of Father Swamy in view of political leaders blaming government lapses including denial of bail and delaying medical care to the priest, who was arrested nine months ago.

The statement said that the court allowed medical treatment for Father Swamy at a private hospital “where he was receiving all possible medical attention since May 28.”

The statement also denied any violation of human rights in the case, saying India has an independent judiciary, a range of national bodies monitoring rights violations, a free media and a vibrant and vocal civil society.

“India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens,” it said, indirectly dismissing all allegations of rights violations against the deceased priest.