St Xavier's College Mumbai calls off Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture after protest by ABVP

St Xavier's College Mumbai has cancelled the annual Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested against the event. The protest began after ABVP opposed the event by sending a letter and also demanded action against the college administration for glorifying an accused person in a terror case.

The annual lecture was scheduled on August 9, organised by the department of inter-religious studies (DIRS), and Father Prem Xalxo, associate lecturer from the faculty of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, was to deliver the lecture virtually, titled ‘Migration for Livelihood: Hope Amidst Miseries.’

According to The Wire reports, Swamy was a Jesuit priest and a tribal rights activist from Jharkhand. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on October 7, 2019, when he was 84 years of age and remained in custody until he died on July 5, 2021, at a hospital in Mumbai, while undergoing treatment for COVID-19.

He was the 16th accused in the case where human rights activists and academics were blamed for being part of a larger ‘urban Naxal’ group.

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Lecture was part of World Indigenous Day celebration

According to The Indian Express reports, St Xavier College's lecture was organised as a part of the World Indigenous Day celebration. Rector Father Keith DSouza, from St Xavier’s College, said: “Our annual Stan Swamy memorial lecture has been delivered by reputed scholars who have done research in the area of history and development of indigenous peoples across the globe.”

He further added that this year’s topic was on the theme of migration. While the lectures cover topics related to indigenous life, which no one has had a problem with, the main issue seems to be the name of the lecture series, which is named after Stan Swamy.

“However, from a Jesuit point of view, Fr Stan Swamy was an Indian citizen who was accused, but not as yet convicted of his alleged crimes till his demise. As per our Indian criminal jurisprudence, a person is innocent unless proven guilty,” DSouza adds.