Sedition case: SC grants bail to Binayak Sen’s co-accused Guha
31 May 2011
The Supreme Court on today granted bail to Piyush Guha, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment along with civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen under Indian sedition law.
A vacation bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad suspended Guha's life sentence and directed that he be released on a bail bond of Rs2 lakh and two sureties of Rs1 lakh each.
Guha, a Kolkata-based businessman, was handed a life sentence along with Sen and Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal by a Chhatisgarh trial court for colluding with Maoists seeking to overthrow the state.
Their bail appeals were subsequently rejected by the Chhatisgarh high court as well. They then appealed to the apex court, which has already granted bail to Sen. However, Guha's plea was pending till today.
Challenging the order of the high court in Sen's case, advocate Prashant Bhushan (now a member of the drafting committee for the anti-graft lokpal bill) told the Supreme Court that Guha has already spent four years in jail. He also underlined the fact that the apex court has recently granted bail to Sen.
The conviction of Sen had led to widespread dismay and protests in India as well as abroad. As many as 91 Nobel Prize winners had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his support. (See: Free Binayak Sen, 40 Nobel laureates urge PM).