On Bombay HC orders, Fr Stan Swamy moved to hospital

MUMBAI: Fr Stan Swamy, 84, lodged in Taloja jail in the Elgar Parishad case, was admitted to Holy Family Hospital in Bandra late Friday after the Bombay HC gave directions to shift him immediately for 15 days, reports Swati Deshpande.
A vacation bench clarified it was passing the order in “peculiar facts and circumstances of this case,” after ASG Anil Singh for the NIA said sending him to a private hospital may set a “wrong precedent”. The NIA had arrested Fr Swamy from his Ranchi home last October.
Senior counsel Mihir Desai with advocate Mihir Joshi for Fr Swamy had sought urgent directions, stating he “is unable to stand, eat or visit the toilet”.
Desai informed the bench of Justices S S Shinde and N R Borkar that Fr Swamy’s attendants at the prison had said his “health was extremely precarious with reduced oxygen saturation and acutely fluctuating blood pressure”. He said the hospital expenses would be borne by Fr Swamy.
A week ago, Fr Swamy in a virtual interaction with the vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade had refused to be shifted to any hospital, saying he preferred to await his death in prison. The bench had then permitted Desai to approach the HC before June 1 if the priest agreed by then to be shifted to Holy Family Hospital. Fr Swamy filed an affidavit on Friday requesting that he be shifted to the hospital.
To Singh’s suggestion for admission to government-run JJ Hospital, the HC said it may not be possible for him to get personal attention there due to the pandemic and influx of patients. The ASG said if he was being sent to a private hospital, no other private individual should be allowed to attend to him.
The HC directed the hospital to provide him with an attendant and to allow one police constable since he is an undertrial. It also allowed Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, parish priest of St Peter’s Church in Bandra, to meet Fr Swamy at the hospital subject to its protocols.
One of his lawyers said after being moved to hospital, Fr Swamy joked with the staff saying, ‘Now I know I am in good hands’.
Last October, the special NIA court had rejected Fr Swamy’s plea for medical bail. He then appealed against the order before HC in April.