Nobel laureate Amartya Sen supports protests against Binayak sentence

Street protests against the life sentence handed down to internationally acclaimed activist and pioneering rural paediatrician Dr Binayak Sen continued to spread across India today, with an ever increasing number of prominent personalities rallied behind him.

The latest was Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who noted that Binayak Sen's conviction on sedition charges was a "ridiculous" use of laws. Expressing the hope that the Supreme Court would give relief to the activist, an "outraged and upset" Sen said "deep miscarriage of justice" in this case should be aired and be known to the people as well as the court.

"That is the reason for my willingness to make a statement in a case where I am outraged, upset and feel unjustly treated," Sen told The Telegraph newspaper.

He said that the Chhattisgarh court's judgment was a "huge perversion of our system of justice, and particularly of the laws concerning sedition".

"It is not at all clear, to start with, that the thing he has been exactly accused of - of passing letters - has been really proved beyond doubt," the eminent economist said, adding that even if he had passed on the letters, he had not incited anyone to rise in violent protest or rebellion.

"In fact, we know that in his writings he has written against the use of violence in political struggle, arguing that this is neither correct, nor is it ultimately successful," Sen said, adding that one also has to take into account the character of the person.