An Indian Jesuit priest died on Monday at the age of 84 after having spent the last eight months of his life jailed on terror charges for his activism on behalf of Indian society’s lowest castes.
Fr. Stanislaus Lourduswamy, popularly known as Fr. Stan Swamy, died days before his scheduled bail hearing in the High Court of Bombay, which had been postponed due to his deteriorating health.
The elderly priest, who also suffered from Parkinson’s disease, had been placed on a ventilator at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai (formerly called Bombay) over the weekend, more than a month after he was admitted to the hospital under court order with COVID-19, according to UCA News.
In a statement announcing Swamy’s death, Fr. Jerry Cutinha. the provincial of the Jamshedpur Jesuit Province, honored the priest for his “work among the Adivasis, Dalits and other marginalized communities so that the poor may have life and life to the full with dignity and honor.”