The Prelude
Once upon a time... on a fine day in January 1818, the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy fought a battle that would later come to be known as “The Battle of Koregaon” (a.k.a the Battle of Koregaon Bhima). As they fought for nearly 12 long hours, till the Peshwa's troops ultimately withdrew, Captain Francis ‘Staunton’, who led the Company troop in defending their position, didn’t have the faintest clue, that 200 years later, another man sharing the same letters of his surname, will stand murdered in the name of events that would be weaved out from this very battlefield – The Bhima Koregaon!
Back in time
Once upon another time... in a place called Jharkhand, there lived a man who documented the monstrous profits made by big corporations, and the price that poor people dependent on the land and forests had to pay for this to happen! He spoke of the manner in which land was acquired at dirt prices for power plants, and how bulldozers destroyed the standing crop, how environmental clearances were hastily rammed through, while farmers did not get their due and how hectares of forests were ravaged without any remorse! He researched and found that large numbers of Adivasi and Dalit youth had been jailed for years just because they fought against this ‘development’. Most of them charged as ‘Maoists’ — in Jharkhand alone, he ‘digged out’ more than 3,000 of them!
And then one day, around 40 policemen entered his premises. They spent three hours searching his small room. They confiscated his laptop, phone, music cassettes and documents. The next day morning, local newspapers celebrated his plot to murder the then Prime Minister of the Country! He was later sent into a crowded jail, unmindful of his age and illnesses.
At 83, his body slowly began to show the ravages of age and his life of austerity. Parkinson’s disease had eaten in and his hands trembled as he tried to pick up a cup of water to drink. But his spine — both physically and metaphorically — was upright and unbending. In the video he recorded before his arrest, he declared quietly, “I am ready to pay the price, whatever it is.”
200 Years after the battle of 1818
Once upon a time... violence erupted at Bhima Koregaon village as lakhs of Dalits gathered to mark the 200th anniversary of a battle that was fought and won 200 years ago! Initially, the police investigated Hindutva leaders for instigating the violence. A few months later, however, the police suddenly claimed the violence was provoked by activists and human rights lawyers some of whom had attended a programme organised by Dalit and human rights groups a day before the Bhima Koregaon commemoration.
The police swiftly connected the programme to Maoists, and arrested 16 human rights defenders, lawyers and scholars. And every step of the way, they violated the law and the rights of the accused. With Google around, I shall not go into those details here!
Intel (stays) Inside!
Mark Spencer, President of Arsenal Consulting said... “It should be noted that this is one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering that Arsenal has ever encountered..." The US-based forensic agency, said about the agency's latest report that reveals that incriminating evidence was planted in the computer of Surendra Gadling, who was arrested under UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) for alleged links with banned CPI (Maoist) group in the Bhima Koregaon case. The explosive forensic report was filed before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Mumbai. Stan Swamy’s lawyers had also earlier argued in his multiple bail hearings that the evidence presented against Swamy were fabricated. The Arsenal report suggests that the one/s who hacked Gadling's computer may have hacked Swamy's computer as well. Prior to this report, Arsenal Consulting had filed two more forensic reports in the NIA Special Court that revealed that cyber attackers had planted evidence in Rona Jacob Wilson's computer, another accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Her computer was compromised for 22 months. The Arsenal report has concluded that the same attacker/s who planted documents/PDF files in Wilson's computer had also compromised Gadling's computer for 20 months. Any government, if they wish so, can easily track the owner of the IP address which was used to plant malware in Wilson and Gadling's computers. The IP address is already mentioned in the Arsenal report! Unfortunately, all such Intel stays Inside the bureaucratic files!
The Present
Many prisons are infamous for routinely providing TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, cell phones, and even homemade food to hardcore criminals and politicians. But, ‘someone’ decided that they would refuse to give a drinking straw to Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old scholar and activist... a man terribly weakened by Parkinsons Disease and awaiting trial for a yet to be proved link to the Koregaon Bhima Case.
In another country or in another time, he would have probably been celebrated a national hero. A man whose love for his country and the love of his religion is the love for its poorest people. A man older than the very republic he stood to defend. But at the time and place he was in... he was just one of those irrelevant souls that he stood up for!
Once upon a time... on a fine day of July 5th 2021... Stan Swamy “Died”.
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