[Reader-list] Invite to Seminar on The Continued Incarceration of Dr. Binayak Sen

[siddharth narrain]

*The Campaign for the Release of Binayak Sen* invites you to a public
seminar *
The Continued  Incarceration of  Dr. Binayak Sen:What does it mean for
Indian Democracy?  *

It is almost two years since Dr. Binayak Sen was arrested by the
Chhattisgarh government for alleged 'crimes against the state'. Civil
society has in the intervening period been deeply disturbed about this most
unjust incarceration. All major cities across the globe and within India
have seen protests, signature campaigns, discussions, and media awareness
events all of which have attempted to raise awareness and make the state
respond to the concerns of ordinary citizens. It is a telling comment on the
nature of Indian democracy, that two years down the line we are still
engaged in this struggle to free a man who should never have been
imprisoned.

We see the struggle to free Dr. Binayak Sen as not just the struggle to
secure the liberty of one man but rather a struggle, which in its many
dimensions encompasses the very idea of India. It is a struggle which
strives to protect and defend those who work to secure the Preambular
promise of social and economic justice, it is a struggle against unjust and
arbitrary state terror directed at those with the deepest Constitutional
commitments and it is in every sense a struggle about the ethical content
and meaning we wish to give to the Indian Constitution.

To understand and to reflect upon the many meanings of the struggle to free
Dr. Binayak Sen and to renew our commitment to this highly significant
struggle, we invite you to this public seminar.

*Date:* May 9th, 2009 (Saturday)

*Time*:  2 pm to 5 pm

*Venue*: SCM House, 29, 2nd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore.

*Speakers*: Dr K. Balagopal,(Human Rights Forum, Hyderabad) B.V. Seetharam
(Karavali Ale, Mangalore), and B.N. Jagadeesha (Alternative Law Forum,
Bangalore)
*
Schedule*:

*Session 1*: (2 p.m.) “Binayak Sen and the Constitutional Imagination of
India” - Lecture by* Dr. K. Balagopa*l, Advocate and Member, Human Rights
Forum, Hyderabad.

*Session 2*: (2:30 p.m.) “Targeting Human Rights Activists in Karnataka” –
Presentation by *Jagadeesh B.N*., Advocate, Alternative Law Forum.

*Session 3*: (3 p.m.)* B.V. Seetharam*, editor of* Karavali Ale*, on his
experiences in Dakshina Kannada

*Session 4*: (3.30 p.m- 5 p.m.):* Discussion*

For further queries please call 9845001168.

*For those interested, Anand Teltumble is releasing a Kannada translation of
the book, Khairlanji at the same venue (SCM House) from 10:30 am to 1 pm*
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