The Indian Women Theologians’ Forum says it will campaign for the repeal of draconian laws that unjustly incarcerate those working for justice and human rights.
Mourning the death of Father Stan Swami, the association of women theologians from various Christian denominations, expressed shock and anguish that the government labeled the Jesuit activist’s work as seditious whereas the State should have been doing what the priest had done – “upholding the Constitutional rights of all Indians.”
“A man of his commitment should have been honored by the State, but instead he got incarceration and death,” laments the forum that hailed Father Swamy as a Christian who lived his “religious commitment radically and in a prophetic manner in the Indian context.”
Father Swamy died July 8 in Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital. He was brought there on May 28 from Taloja Jail where he was lodged since October 9, 2020.
The National Investigation Agency arrested him October 8, 2020, from his residence in Ranchi, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967. He was then taken to Mumbai and a court sent him to jail.
The statement noted that Father Swamy’s efforts to empower the marginalized communities had been a life-long commitment.
The women theologians said they will campaign for the repeal of the UAPA law, “so that all those unjustly incarcerated may be granted justice by the courts to return to their families.”
“He trained several young human right defenders in social analysis, legal literacy and constitutional rights for several years in South India before he moved to Jharkhand. He then committed himself to the rights of the tribal people whom he called his family with the love and commitment of a true follower of Christ.”
The forum asserts that like Christ, Father Swamy was “incarnated in the lives of the marginalized tribal communities who accepted him as one of their own as he gave his life for them, loving them to the very end.”
