SC to resume Binayak Sen’s bail hearing today

The Supreme Court will today further hear the bail plea of civil rights activist Binayak Sen, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition and links with Maoist insurgents.

The 61-year-old gynaecologist has challenged the order of Chhattisgarh high court, which had rejected his bail plea on 10 February. The Supreme Court had on Monday adjourned hearing of the case till 15 April as the Chhattigarh government sought more time to brief its advocates.

In his plea before the apex court, Sen has contended that the trial court erred in convicting him when there was no substantial evidence against him (See: Binayak Sen's conviction outright `nonsensical': Justice Sachar).

Opposing Sen's bail plea, the Chhatisgarh government filed an affidavit saying Sen has deep links with hardcore Naxalites.

''He (Sen) provides active support and co-ordinates in spreading the base of CPI-Maoists in the country. Apart from providing logistic support, he exchanges information and material directly and indirectly with the Naxalites in the areaa of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa and propagates Naxal ideology." the affidavit said.

Sen is at present lodged in a jail in the Chhattisgarh capital Raipur after he was sentenced by a trial court there on 24 December last year for sedition and for his links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata-based businessman Piyush Guha. Both of them have also been awarded life terms, but their sentences have not evoked anything like the same controversy.

Sen on the other hand has drawn worldwide support for his plight, with dozens of Nobel laureates among those joining the outcry against his sentence (See: Free Binayak Sen, 40 Nobel laureates urge PM).

His supporters say he has done pioneering medical work among tribals, but has been victimised for highlighting civil rights abuses against them.