Media Release

Mangaluru, Oct 10: The All India Catholic Union (AICU) has called for the immediate release of 83 year old Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy who was arrested from his Ranchi room in a night operation by the National Investigating Agency and is now in prison in Judicial Custody till October 23, 2020.

The 100-year-old AICU, which speaks for the 1.6 core ordinary Catholics in the country, has expressed its apprehensions that the arrest of the frail, old and ailing activist in the midst of the extraordinary situation created by the Corona pandemic, seems part of a project to silence dissent and protest against alienation of the natural and forest resources of the Tribals.

Catholic Union national president Lancy D’Cunha said the ordinary Catholic women and men stood in solidarity with Fr Stan, a national hero, and with the country’s Tribals whose struggles the Jesuit priest had espoused for more than half a century. Every citizen of India who has respect for the constitution and the rights of the poor, the Dalits, the disposed and the Tribals, makes common cause with these peoples’ movements, he said.

The AICU has expressed its happiness that the solidarity for Fr Stan has extended far beyond the Christian community and the Tribals, who have agitated on the roads in Ranchi and other places. Civil society movements in India and abroad have expressed the concern at the manner in which Fr Stan was picked up after several months of harassment, raids, and questionings.