Stan Swamy tests Covid positive, hospitalised

Undertrial prisoner in the Elgaar Parishad case, tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy has been admitted to the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. He was put on oxygen support after testing positive for the coronavirus yesterday.

Although he had earlier refused hospitalisation, pleading instead for interim bail to return to his people at Ranchi, his lawyer Mihir Desai approached the division bench after his condition worsened. Desai informed the court that Father Swamy had agreed to move to a private hospital and would bear his own expenses.

Stan Swamy was lodged in Taloja jail since his arrest in October last year. He and fifteen others were arrested in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case and charged under the UAPA. Co-arrested undertrial prisoners Hany Babu and Varavara Rao had earlier tested positive for the virus. Varavara Rao was granted interim bail on medical grounds after contracting the virus last year, and Hany Babu was admitted to the government's J J hospital in Mumbai last week but later moved to GT hospital.