Jailed Jesuit: “Unable to Stand, Walk and Eat Without Helpers”

Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, 84, was brought from Taloja Central Jail to the intensive care unit of the Catholic Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai, India, on May 28, after he had contracted Covid while in detention.

Swamy, a Modernist who dresses as a layman, was wrongly accused of “Maoist terrorism” for his political activism for the Jharkhand tribals. He is in jail since October and was granted a 15-day temporary bail by the Bombay High Court on medical grounds.

“Father Stan is weak, but stable and seems in good spirits,” Jesuit Father Frazer Mascerenhas told AsiaNews.it (May 29). Swamy’s blood pressure was dropping. Presently, he is on oxygen support. However, he is unable to stand, walk and eat without helpers.

The two inmates who took care of Swamy resulted negative for Covid. Swamy was given a Covid-19 vaccination on May 18 in prison.

In his last hearing, Father Swamy, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and other age-related morbidities, said, “I am eating less and less, and my co-accused are worried about me.” Swamy has fallen multiple times while in prison and suffers from hearing loss in both ears.

#newsAxvxuwmume