A day after the death of tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, leaders of 10 opposition parties wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to take action against those responsible for “foisting false cases” on the activist, his continued detention in jail and “inhuman treatment” allegedly meted out to him.

Stan Swamy was arrested under an anti-terror law in the Elgar Parishad case and detained for nine months without trial. He was denied bail despite suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. In May, he contracted coronavirus and was admitted to the hospital, where he suffered a cardiac arrest over the weekend. On Monday, he died at a Mumbai hospital during treatment on Monday.

Also Read: Journalists, rights activists remember Stan Swamy as ‘stoic and courageous man’

His death caused a furore, with several people and organisation, including the UN, calling his death “disturbing.”

Meanwhile, Opposition leaders, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM), former prime minister and JDS leader HD Deve Gowda and NC leader Farooq Abdullah, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, D Raja (CPI) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), have written a letter to the president, demanding action. 

“We the undersigned leaders of major opposition parties are writing to you in deep anguish expressing our intense grief and outrage at the death of Father Stan Swamy under custody,” they said in their letter to the president.

“We are urging your immediate intervention as the President of India to direct your government to act against those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment,” they said.

Also Read: Congress to hold protest in Panaji on Tuesday against ‘custodial killing’ of Stan Swamy

The 84-year-old‘s funeral service was held at the church on Tuesday, adhering to the COVID-19 protocols imposed by the Maharashtra government, several people, priests, lawyers, human rights activists and some family members of Swamy joined the funeral online.

The church authorities said Swamy’s body will be cremated in Mumbai after completing certain formalities and his ashes will be taken to Ranchi and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, the state where he was based.