Father Stan Swamy , 84, tested COVID-19 positive at the Holy Family Hospital on Sunday.
He was shifted to the private hospital from Taloja Central Jail on May 29 after being directed by the Bombay High Court.
As per a call made by Fr. Swamy to his close associate Fr. Joseph Xavier his blood pressure was dropping and he continued to feel weak. Advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for the Jesuit priest, told the court on May 29 that Fr. Swamy had agreed to move to a private hospital and would bear his own expenses.
Fr. Swamy suffers from Parkinsons, lower back pain, bilateral hearing loss among other ailments. He told the High Court on May 21, “I am eating less and less and my co-accused are worried about me. I would prefer to suffer and die like this in Taloja jail than being admitted to JJ Hospital. It will not improve, it will keep going. Only one thing that I would request the judiciary is to consider for interim bail. That is the only request.”
The priest told the court through videoconferencing, “Taloja jail brought me to a situation where I can neither write nor go for a walk by myself, or eat. I am not able to meet this demand. Eating is also in difficulty. Someone has to feed me with a spoon.”
He is accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case and was arrested from Ranchi on October 9, 2020.
