Voice Of The Poor

Sometimes in our lives, we wonder when God will send the angels to come and save us. There was a story last week that was published by a lot of magazines and daily newspapers. Stanislaus Lourduswamy, popularly known as Stan Swamy, was an Indian Roman Catholic priest, a member of the Jesuit order. Father Stan Swamy, an 84 year old priest and human rights activist spent five decades fighting for the rights of the tribal community in the state of Jharkhand, India. He was arrested in October 2020 and held in judicial custody. The US Commission for International Religious Freedom noted that Stan Swamy was an elderly priest and human rights activist imprisoned on "false terrorism charges".

Despite Swamy’s weak condition from advanced Parkinson’s disease, the courts repeatedly denied him pre-trial bail. He asked for a small zipper cup to drink water from because he could not hold a regular cup. The prison authority refused to give a zipper cup. Swamy was allegedly not allowed to drink from a straw as his mobility worsened in custody. With court orders, Swamy was eventually moved to a hospital and put on a ventilator, but he died of a cardiac arrest on Monday, July 5, 2021. He was a champion of the poor and the voiceless.