[Reader-list] Plea to release Binayak Sen

[T Peter]

*Express News Service
15 May 2009 01:24:00 AM IST*
Plea to release Binayak Sen

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was an unusual scene in front of the Secretariat on
Thursday morning. Emotions were running high. Hundreds of humanists who had
lined up  for signing a mass memorandum seeking the release of Dr Binayak
Sen were seen venting their anger and helplessness through curses.
The protest organised by a number of human rights organisations drew a
fairly big crowd to the Statue junction. The signature campaign was
organised to mark the second anniversary of Binayak Sen’s arrest. Sen, a
practitioner of community medicine and an activist among tribals, was
arrested by the Chattisgarh government on May 14, 2007. At the time of his
arrest, Sen was the national vice- president and Chattisgarh state president
of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
He has been jailed since then using the provisions of the draconian
Chattisgarh Special Securities Act (CSSA). The Chattisgarh administration
alleges that Sen was aiding Maoists and Naxals. But, Sen’s friends and
relatives say that the only crime he had committed was visiting Raipur
Central prison and treating an aged prisoner there.
``Though the treatment was with the permission of jail authorities, they
later found fault with it as the patient had some Naxal connections,’’ said
Sen’s 80-year-old mother Anasooya in an article last year.
The bail application of Binayak Sen was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Though there were demands from several quarters, including a mass petition
by Nobel laureates, the Union Government is playing a hide-and-seek game
regarding Sen’s release. The fact that Sen is a recipient of the prestigious
Jonathan Mann award has also been ignored by the government.
``Binayak Sen’s imprisonment is a shame on Indian Democracy,’’ said Dr
P.K.R. Warrier while inaugurating the signature campaign organised by
various human rights organisations in the city on Thursday.  Warrier said
there was no logic in the decision of the Chattisgarh government to arrest
Sen, who had been practising community medicine.
Freedom fighter K.E. Mammen, veteran journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar and  human
rights activists R. Ajayan, T. Peter and Sunil Hassan led the campaign. The
campaign was jointly organised by the Ethical Doctors’ Forum, Students’
Islamic Organisation of India, Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation and
PUCL.