An elderly Jesuit priest has been detained by India's counter-terrorist task force the National Investigations Agency for suspected links to Maoist rebels and other terrorist groups. Thousands of Indians have come out to protest defence. Father Stan Swamy, born Stanislaus Lourdusamy, is accused of being party to a conspiracy that led to a violent clash between Dalit, a term used to denote 'Untouchable' castes in India, protestors and police at Bhima Koregaon, Maharashtra on 1st January 2018. The 83 year-old tribal rights activist was taken from Bagaicha, his Jesuit social work centre, where he has worked for the last 15 years, on 8th October and placed into custody until 23rd October, says the National Catholic Reporter. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, under which bail is denied to the accused. In Ranchi, the capital of Jharkand state, where Swamy is being held, hundreds of tribal people demanded his release. And 2,000 social activists from around India called his arrest an attack on people working for human and constitutional rights in his state. Bishop Mascarenhas, a former secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India c0ndemned the NIA's conduct, saying: "The timing of their arrival at the residence of the priest, after the sun has set and darkness has fallen, perhaps manifests the evil designs of those who are dealing with the case." In a statement, the Jesuit Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat has come out in defence of in solidarity with Swamy, saying: