Jailed for speaking for the poor
When will Dr Binayak Sen's incarceration end?
LONDON: A group of British MPs on Friday signed an Early Day Parliamentary motion expressing concern over the continued detention of the human rights activist Binayak Sen and calling for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention.
Dr. Sen, who was awarded the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights, has been languishing in a Chhattisgarh jail for two years over his alleged links with Maoist groups.
The motion, sponsored by Labour Party MP Jeremy Corbyn, called Dr. Sen’s incarceration a “grave case of violation of human rights,” stating that he was being held on “politically-motivated and trumped-up charges.”
The signatories said they were concerned over repeated delays in giving Dr. Sen a fair trial.
He had also been denied his constitutional right to bail. They said they were worried about Dr. Sen’s health “due to lack of appropriate medical care.”
The motion demanded his immediate release pending a fair and prompt trial so that he could carry out his work “without harassment and free from fear.”
Protest plan
Rights campaigners from across Britain are expected to take part in a protest outside the Indian High Commission here on May 14 to be organised by the “Release Binayak Sen Now Campaign” to mark the second anniversary of his detention.
“Dr. Sen was arrested on what the Amnesty International has called ‘trumped up’ charges on May 14. 2007. The State alleges that he was a conduit for Maoist insurgents in particular delivering letters for a senior Maoist leader in jail.
To date, the authorities have failed to provide a shred of concrete evidence,” it said in a statement.
It called Dr. Sen’s arrest “a manifest evidence of an increasing trend worldwide to silence peaceful dissent by imprisoning lawful humanitarian activists on charges of terrorism.”
The Amnesty International said that Dr. Sen’s continued detention was in breach of international law.
Glaring example
“Dr. Sen’s prolonged imprisonment is a glaring example of how the Indian authorities misuse security legislation to target activists. These are open to abuse as they contain vague and sweeping definitions of ‘unlawful activities,” said Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme Madhu Malhotra.
I fully support the British MP's in their effort to give Dr. Sen a fair trial.
I have repeatedly been saying that when the system does not care for its poor and the rich become richer and richer, Maoism is the result.
Any intellectual would be shocked at the treatment being meted out to the poor and raise their voice, just as I am doing.
That was why the intellectuals supported the CPM and Naxals in Bengal but the intellectuals of Bengal have been so pampered with gifts by the CPM that they have lost their voice.
I also say the Maoist are doing the right thing since our politicians do not understand the normal means of protest as practised by Mahatma Gandhi.
We were lucky,India was ruled by the British who had their conscience pricked by Gandhiji by his non-violent satyagraha.
If any of our politicians were ruling India at that time, they would have jailed Gandhiji just as they are allowing Dr. Sen to rot in Chattisgarh.
Surprisingly, Chattisgarh is a BJP ruled state who cried the loudest when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency.
Dr. Sen, who was awarded the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights, has been languishing in a Chhattisgarh jail for two years over his alleged links with Maoist groups.
The motion, sponsored by Labour Party MP Jeremy Corbyn, called Dr. Sen’s incarceration a “grave case of violation of human rights,” stating that he was being held on “politically-motivated and trumped-up charges.”
The signatories said they were concerned over repeated delays in giving Dr. Sen a fair trial.
He had also been denied his constitutional right to bail. They said they were worried about Dr. Sen’s health “due to lack of appropriate medical care.”
The motion demanded his immediate release pending a fair and prompt trial so that he could carry out his work “without harassment and free from fear.”
Protest plan
Rights campaigners from across Britain are expected to take part in a protest outside the Indian High Commission here on May 14 to be organised by the “Release Binayak Sen Now Campaign” to mark the second anniversary of his detention.
“Dr. Sen was arrested on what the Amnesty International has called ‘trumped up’ charges on May 14. 2007. The State alleges that he was a conduit for Maoist insurgents in particular delivering letters for a senior Maoist leader in jail.
To date, the authorities have failed to provide a shred of concrete evidence,” it said in a statement.
It called Dr. Sen’s arrest “a manifest evidence of an increasing trend worldwide to silence peaceful dissent by imprisoning lawful humanitarian activists on charges of terrorism.”
The Amnesty International said that Dr. Sen’s continued detention was in breach of international law.
Glaring example
“Dr. Sen’s prolonged imprisonment is a glaring example of how the Indian authorities misuse security legislation to target activists. These are open to abuse as they contain vague and sweeping definitions of ‘unlawful activities,” said Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme Madhu Malhotra.
I fully support the British MP's in their effort to give Dr. Sen a fair trial.
I have repeatedly been saying that when the system does not care for its poor and the rich become richer and richer, Maoism is the result.
Any intellectual would be shocked at the treatment being meted out to the poor and raise their voice, just as I am doing.
That was why the intellectuals supported the CPM and Naxals in Bengal but the intellectuals of Bengal have been so pampered with gifts by the CPM that they have lost their voice.
I also say the Maoist are doing the right thing since our politicians do not understand the normal means of protest as practised by Mahatma Gandhi.
We were lucky,India was ruled by the British who had their conscience pricked by Gandhiji by his non-violent satyagraha.
If any of our politicians were ruling India at that time, they would have jailed Gandhiji just as they are allowing Dr. Sen to rot in Chattisgarh.
Surprisingly, Chattisgarh is a BJP ruled state who cried the loudest when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency.
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