The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the Maharashtra government to transfer 84-year-old jailed tribal rights activist Stan Swamy to the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai “preferably during the course of the day”, reported The Indian Express.
Swamy, 84, who is in judicial custody in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, suffers from Parkinson’s disease. His health had deteriorated recently and the Jesuits, the Catholic religious order to which he belongs, had appealed to the Maharashtra government seeking medical attention for the activist.
A vacation bench of Justices SS Shinde and NR Borkar took up the matter in an urgent hearing. The activist will be admitted to the hospital for 15 days.
Swamy had filed a plea seeking interim bail after the special National Investigation Agency court had dismissed his petition on medical grounds amid the Covid-19 crisis.
On May 19, the Bombay High Court had asked Taloja prison officials to send Swamy for another medical examination at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital. The court had asked the hospital to submit its report on May 21.
The activist’s medical report said that he suffered from extreme hearing loss in both ears, and tremors. It also said that he needed a walking stick or a wheelchair. However, his overall condition was said to be stable.
On May 21, Swamy told the Bombay High Court that he did not want to be admitted to a hospital, and urged the court to consider his request for interim bail. “I have been in deteriorating condition,” he said. “I would rather be in Ranchi. I do not think any of that [hospitalisation] is going to help.”
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