Indian paediatrician has been two years in prison without trial: British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal May 09 issue on Binayak
Ganapati Mudur
Volume 338, 9 May 2009, p b1864
Published 5 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1864
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1864
An Indian doctor whose achievements in community health have been recognised by the international medical world and whose personal sacrifices have been cited by academics in medical schools across India will complete two years in prison on 14 May this year.
On Monday 4 May India’s Supreme Court asked the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh to respond within two weeks to a petition for bail from Binayak Sen, a paediatrician and civil rights activist, who was arrested in 2007 after an allegation that he had carried letters for armed Maoist rebels. Dr Sen has asserted that the allegation is false, and the charge against him remains unproved, despite numerous hearings in a lower court in Raipur, the state’s capital.
The campaign seeking Dr Sen’s release has steadily grown. Doctors, civil rights groups in India and abroad, academics, public health activists, and legal experts have individually and jointly decried his incarceration and repeatedly urged his release. Last year a group of 22 Nobel laureates wrote to the federal and state governments asking that Dr Sen be freed while the judicial process proceeds, to enable him to continue his “important medical work” (BMJ 2008;336:1155, doi:10.1136/bmj.39588.419745.DB).
Dr Sen’s supporters view the Supreme Court’s decision to admit his petition for bail as a “positive development.” Dr Sen, who was given a diagnosis of angina in prison earlier this year, hopes to be treated at the college where he trained, the Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. The prison authorities have not yet agreed.
“It’s a shame our government has treated him in this manner,” said Mira Shiva, a member of the steering committee of the Indian branch of the People’s Health Movement, a worldwide network of doctors and health activists. “His contributions to grassroots community medicine have been acclaimed globally, but our own government has refused to recognise his work,” Dr Shiva added.
Public health activists said that a hospital that Dr Sen helped set up at Dalli-Rajhara, an iron ore mining town in Chhattisgarh, is an example of how health care may be practised in a way that is relatively insulated from the commercial pressure that is so prevalent in India.
“The hospital is a mecca for some of us. There are lessons there for the rest of India,” said Sunil Kaul, a founding trustee of the Action Northeast Trust, which has been involved in training of healthcare delivery in rural India.
“Where else in India can a patient get surgery—whether it is a hysterectomy or surgery for intestinal obstruction—for less than 2500 rupees [£34; [Euro sign]38; $50] with no support from the government?” Dr Kaul asked.
After studying paediatrics at the Christian Medical College and a short stint in a university, Dr Sen gave up what many doctors believe would have been a successful city career and moved to one of India’s poorest regions to work in tribal villages in central India.
His supporters believe he was arrested because he had helped expose human rights violations such as torture and extrajudicial killings supported by the state.
“His incarceration is politically motivated,” said Sudha Bharadwaj, a member of the Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, India’s oldest human rights organisation. Each Monday since mid-March this year this group and others have staged peaceful protests close to the jail in Raipur where Dr Sen is held.
“We’ll continue our campaign until he is free,” Ms Bharadwaj said.
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