Chhattisgarh HC throws out Binayak Sen’s bail plea
10 Feb 2011
In a judgement certain to send shock waves among liberal thinkers around the world, the Chhattisgarh high court today rejected the bail application and refused to suspend the life imprisonment of Binayak Sen, doctor and human rights activist. The state had opposed his plea on the ground that he had links with the Maoist rebels.
Sen was arrested in May 2007 in Chhattisgarh, which in the past decade has become a centre for Naxalites. The government in 2007 charged Sen with aiding the insurgents by passing notes from a jailed Maoist rebel he was treating to someone outside the jail.
He was released on bail in May 2009. A trial court convicted him of sedition and sentenced him to life imprisonment in December.
"It's a sad and unfortunate day for Binayak Sen's family and friends and also a sad day for the country's judicial system," said Rajendra Sail, a family friend and an activist in Chhattisgarh. He said the only option left is to appeal to the Supreme Court Delhi.
On Wednesday, a group of 40 Nobel prize-winners issued a joint letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding Sen's release. However, the prime minister's office is yet to acknowledge the receipt of the letter (See: Free Binayak Sen, 40 Nobel laureates urge PM)
Sen is at present lodged in a jail in state capital Raipur following his sentencing to life term on 24 December for sedition and over his links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal.
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