A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of late tribal activist Stan Swamy chained to his hospital bed in Mumbai. This photo shows an elderly man sitting on a hospital bed, wearing an oxygen mask with his feet chained to his hospital bed. On 05 July 2021, the Bhima-Koregaon case accused Stan Swamy died due to cardiac arrest at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Stan Swamy chained to his hospital bed in Mumbai.
Fact: The old man in the photo is Baburam Balwan Singh, a 92-year-old murder convict in Etah District Jail in Uttar Pradesh. Balwan Singh was tied to his hospital bed while he was getting treatment at District Women’s hospital in Etah. This photo has nothing to do with the late tribal activist Stan Swamy. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published by ‘NDTV’ on 13 May 2021. This article reported that an elderly jail inmate was inhumanly chained to his hospital bed in Etah, Uttar Pradesh. Baburam Balwan Singh, a 92-year-old murder convict was reportedly admitted to district women’s hospital after he suffered severe difficulty in breathing. According to the article, the jail authorities have tied Balwan Singh to his hospital bed while he was getting treatment at District Women’s hospital in Etah.
Reporting the details of this incident, ‘The Times of India’ journalist Anuja Jaiswal had shared this photo on her Twitter handle. Responding to this tweet, Uttar Pradesh DG for Prisons tweeted that Balwan Singh’s jail warden Ashok Yadav was immediately suspended following the orders of UP Additional Director General (Jail), Anand Kumar. Reporting this information, several other news websites have also published articles. They can be read here and here.
Stan Swamy, one of the accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence passed away in Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital on 05 July 2021. On 09 October 2020, NIA arrested Stan Swamy under an anti-terror law in the Elgar Parishad case. In May 2021, Stan Swamy suffered serious health issues after he was tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Following the court orders on 28 May 2021, Stan Swamy was admitted to Holy Family hospital in Mumbai.
To sum it up, the old man chained up to his hospital bed in the photo is not the late tribal activist Stan Swamy
