The death certificate of Stanislaus Lourduswamy, better known as Stan Swamy, might mention the cause of death as cardiac arrest as the case with most people who die a natural death. But a moot question that we need to ask ourselves is: Was the death of Stan Swamy a natural one? Was it not induced by certain agencies which had literally killed him? Could we not call it a cold blooded murder as is the case with thousands of prisoners, the nameless, faceless and voiceless victims of our systems, whose tales of travail and torture may never hit the front pages of newspapers, or grab the Breaking News tag in the 24x7 news television channels?

The saga of Stan Swamy is also the saga of thousands of men and women of our nation, whose lips are sealed, just as their fates, whose identity tarnished, whose lives devastated, whose families harassed, and whose children haunted. Stan today stands representing all those who have been unjustly put behind bars, because they pricked the conscience of those who take sides with the unjust structures and systemic oppression and repression of the voiceless. 
There is a whole lot of high and mighty who have joined their hands in carefully executing the slow murder of Stan Swamy so that no one would get a wind of what had prompted the ailing senior citizen to take one on one with the government machinery. It is again not easy to list all the accomplices who are responsible for the murder in the order of their active participation in the ploy and so let us put them randomly.

Justice delayed

Who would know better the significance of the dictum 'justice delayed is justice denied' better than the judiciary. In the recent years, it has become too evident that the judiciary is no longer an independent institution at the service of the nation. There had been several glaring instances which had proved that the judiciary is at the behest and service of the elected leaders. Towing the line is what they too have been taught, and those judges who are at the mercy of the mighty leaders would declare black as white, so long their future is assured. 

Sometimes it may sound too ludicrous to imagine the judiciary giving the NIA two weeks’ time to respond. If the judiciary were to act independently, putting aside all political colouring and prodding, then most of the people arrested on the basis of the draconian UAPA would be free. The judiciary had been sitting over the bail application several times, not ready to call the shots. Surely they were careful not to come in headlong collision with those who have the power to either promote or demote them. The judges who claimed that bail is the normal order and custody is an exception failed the dictum when it came to Stan.

Unholy alliance

Certain corporate giants have the special favour and blessings of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the Home Minister, Amit Shah, is a well-known secret. The Ambanis and the Adanis are also the biggest donors to fund the colossal election campaigns of the party.

The corporate giants cannot tolerate those lone crusaders who sabotage their money-minting projects. The only persons who could put an end to the loud-mouths are the Prime Minister and the Home Minister who have free ride on the nation passing Bills at will, without thinking the repercussions such decisions could have on the nation.

Money matters
    
The corporates ever willing to exploit the national resources in order to augment their bank accounts hardly care about what happens to the people whom they make paupers and even beggars. The tribal and agricultural farm lands are easy targets for mega projects in order to destroy the centuries-old flora and fauna, the homely eco-system where people have a very close affinity with nature. 
The first and best beneficiaries of the corporates, the party bigwigs, and those who wield power with their fisted arms are ready to make the impossible possible using muscle power and newly passed laws. Now everyone knows that it is the corporate lords who are equally culpable of killing Swamy, and his death is a good riddance so that the caged bird is nowhere close to them to frighten them with its mute songs, audible to the masses, inaudible to the lords.

Official forgery

The National Investigation Agency, which had been handed over the Bhima-Koregaon violence between caste groups, had been after the blood of Stan Swamy, and had the audacity to submit over 10,000 pages of chargesheet to prove Stan’s guilty. Even as Stan's mortal remains are prepared for a final 'peaceful' burial, fresh reports have surfaced, asserting the NIA as responsible for implanting spurious documents in his computer and email box, in order to implicate him in a crime associating him with Maoists and anti-national elements.

The way the NIA officials treated the senior citizen is inhuman and crude, to say the least. One wonders how the officials lost their heart to go by the dictates of the higher ups. The NIA officials handling Stan are equally culpable of murdering him slowly by their aggressive and arrogant manner.

Throttling the caged bird

The prison authorities should have had secret communication from all the agencies mentioned above on how they should be rude and crude with Stan, to disregard his legitimate rights and privileges. But the prison authorities in Taloja went out of their way to make life miserable for Stan from the start, having no consideration for his age or ailments he suffered from. We had heard about the long episodes on how these heartless authorities refused to give Stan a sipper, even when it was sent to him through friends. 

Providing the least medical facilities so that Stan went through slow death was at the back of the mind of prison authorities, who had apparently the patronage of the high and mighty in New Delhi. If the prison authorities had done their duties in taking care of Stan, providing for his basic needs, probably Stan would not have been admitted to the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. Thus the prison authorities of Taloja were equally guilty of murdering Stan.

Culprits of corporate sin

Even as everyone is pointing fingers at others for murdering Stan, we cannot escape from the guilt, because we too had been complicit of the guilt by our silence. Stan is merely an archetype, to recall the definition of the word by Carl Jung, who meant "universal, inborn models of people, behaviours, or personalities that play a role in influencing human behaviour". Every time we deny an innocent person his or her rightful place in the society, impinge into his or her territory, wilfully cause damage to the person's character or property, we are joining hands with other ungodly agencies to murder him.

It is difficult for us to dissociate ourselves from what has been known as the "social sin", because we have been part of the system, and there is a survival mechanism in us to keep ourselves away from anything which could threaten our well-being. But until we are able to get out of the quest to personal happiness, even at the expense of others' pain and agony, we cannot be absolved from this corporate sin.

One thing is sure: Stan never dies as we declare in the case of martyrs whose blood is a seed for several others to be born. India is sure to witness several other Stans to reclaim our rightful society.