Panel Event: In memory of renowned rights activist Father Stan Swamy

Organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group and Jesuit Missions.

Father Stan Swamy SJ, 1937-2021

Speakers:

•  Professor Alpa Shah – All Souls College, Oxford, and writer of the award-winning book on the members of the BK-16, The Incarcerations

• Ross Holder – Head of Asia/Pacific Region, PEN International 

• Lotika Singha - Honorary research fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, whose work focuses on the social injustices; member of the Fossil Free Science Museum coalition; co-founding member of International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF)

Chair: Lord Harries of Pentregarth

Summary:

Speakers highlighted the work of the late Jesuit missionary and activist, Father Stan Swamy, who was targeted for his defence of the rights of some of India’s most marginalised communities – Adivasi indigenous people - and died in custody at the age of 84. Father Stan was one of the “BK-16”, sixteen largely unconnected Indian activists incarcerated by the state for their rights activism, but ostensibly for their alleged involvement in violence at a place called Bhima Koregaon and as alleged Maoist terrorists. The speakers also raised the plight of the Adivasis, many of whom are victims of persecution and even extra-judicial killing, and being dispossessed from their lands to enable corporations to extract the mineral resources underneath.

Main points:

Professor Alpa Shah focused on the plight of the BK-16.

• Her book, The Incarcerations, tracks the stories of 16 largely unconnected people, - the BK-16 - which include lawyers, professors, activists, journalists and poets, arrested from across the country, and punished by the state in a systematic way , incarcerated under draconian anti-terror laws, as part of a broader trend to silence human rights activists in India.

• It is probable their arrests were to displace attention from a reported attack by Hindu supremacists on Dalits gathered for an annual commemoration at the town of Bhima Koregaon on New Year’s Day 2018.

• Father Stan Swamy, age 83, was the last to be imprisoned in the case, in 2020. His health worsened in prison, but he was refused bail multiple times. He died after contracting Covid-19 in July 2021.

• Top US cyber specialists have provided convincing evidence that the material serving as the basis for their criminal prosecution, including documents allegedly found on Father Stan’s computer, was implanted on their devices. But Indian courts will not consider these US-based reports as evidence.

• Several of the BK-16 are still imprisoned, others are out on bail but in very restricted conditions, yet there is no sign of a trial even seven years after the first incarcerations.

• The Adivasi’s land rights, though protected under India’s constitution, are under serious threat due to the extraction of rich mineral reserves under their land which have been promised to national and multinational corporations.

• Local populations have also faced as a result displacement, the undermining of their livelihoods and customary practices, exploitation and brutal violence including mass incarcerations and killings. Many of the BK-16 were trying to shed a light on these human rights violations and bring justice to the Adivasis.

• Adivasis may be targeted for alleged support of the Naxalite rebel fighters. 

• The Modi Government has intensified its military activity in the region, asserting the insurgency will be defeated by March 2026.

Lotika Singha explained the controversy in connection with the UK Science Museum’s acceptance of sponsorship from Adani Green Energy, the renewables subsidiary of fossil fuels giant and the world’s largest private coal mine developer Adani, which is based in India, in light of, inter alia, the Adani Group’s alleged abuses of the Adivasis’ land rights.

• The Fossil Free Science Museum campaign is advocating against the Adani Green Energy’s reported £4 million multi-year sponsorship for a new exhibition at the Science Museum entitled ‘Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery’.

• The campaign’s book “The Science Museum Group: an unravelling tragedy” recounts the struggle between Adani and those in India and Australia leading the resistance to its operations impacting Indigenous communities and the climate. 

• The book also has extracts from an internal report, showing the Science Museum Group knew about damaging claims about Adani, which its senior management did not share with trustees, who were responsible for approving the deal.

• An Information Tribunal was held in February concerning a Freedom of Information request for material from PM Johnson’s meetings with Adani Chairman Gautam Adani, now indicted by the US for corruption, in Gujarat, and at the Science Museum on the day the sponsorship was announced.

• Adani’s desire to collaborate with the UK on weapons production and renewable energy and the UK’s on-going negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with India may have influenced the timing of the offer and acceptance of the sponsorship.

Ross Holder noted India was now a country of particular concern regarding violations of freedom of expression.

• The BK-16 were targeted under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA), a repressive 2008 anti-terror law repurposed as a tool to punish dissenters, and which facilitates long-term pre-trial detention.

• For example, the Professor of English at Delhi University incarcerated in the BK-16 case, Hany Babu, continues to be detained in terrible conditions, and has been denied adequate medical treatment.

• The legal system has now effectively been weaponised against those in non-violent opposition to the Government.

• The process becomes the punishment: the misuse of terrorist legislation serves to keep activists in prison for long periods of time, often in pre-trial detention, preventing them from continuing their work.  Many are finally acquitted at trial.

While the PHRG appreciates India’s rich tradition and constitutional status as a secular democracy, it will continue raising awareness of the violations of the rights of the most marginalised, including those of the Adivasi Indigenous People, and the persecuted, such as the BK-16, and others subject to the misuse of terrorism legislation, as well as the Sedition Law, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, as amended in 2020, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and anti-conversion provisions. The PHRG will also support efforts being made to clear Father Swamy’s name, and to hold those responsible for his death to account. It will ensure related concerns are put forward to relevant interlocutors.

The BK-16. Artist: Sidhhesh Gautam