Justice travestied

by Sandeep Pandey
(The Statesman, July 8, 2008)

I first met Dr Binayak Sen, his wife Ilina and their two daughters, Aparajita and Pranhita, at the conclusion of the ‘Pokhran to Sarnath Global Peace March’ on 6 August 1999 at the Central Tibetan Institute of Higher Learning in Sarnath, near Varanasi. Sarnath is where Buddha delivered a sermon to his first five disciples after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The peace march was symbolically between a place of destruction ~ Pokhran ~ and a place of peace ~ Sarnath. It began exactly a year after the day India tested nuclear weapons in 1998 and concluded on Hiroshima Day. The objective of the march was to push for total global nuclear disarmament.

While the march was in progress for 88 days and over 1,500 km, the Sens were busy organising activities in Raipur, now in Chhattisgarh, and their work area in its support. We also later got a chance to work together for the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, a national platform.

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July 9, 2008 | Filed Under articles | Leave a Comment 

Non-Resident Indians (NRI) fast to demand release of Dr Binayak Sen

American Chronicle
Bobby Ramakant
June 24, 2008

Many concerned Indians in the USA, UK, Canada, UK, Australia, Thailand and other countries are fasting from 16 - 25 June 2008 along with hundreds of activists in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, demanding the annulment of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967, amended in 2004, and the release of Dr Binayak Sen (medical doctor and recipient of the prestigious Jonathan Mann award for Health and Human Rights), Ajay TG (filmmaker) and others.

These draconian laws (CSPSA and UAPA) sanction the violation of due process by the state, and thus contravene internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence as well as democratic governance. As Mr.Kannabiran, National President of PUCL, India, argues in his letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the CSPSA and UAPA operate by criminalizing the very performance of civil liberties activities, and culpability is decided upon not by direct proof, but through guilt by association.
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June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

The statesman Cover Story: THE EVIL WITHIN

The Binayak Sen story is more than just about the violation of individual rights, says Shoma A Chatterji

THE Binayak Sen story is much more than one of a gross violation of human rights. It goes far beyond the international appeals to release him from the unlawful detention he has been subjected to for more than one year. Beginning 16 June, a 10-day fast has been organised at Raipur in Chhattisgarh to express solidarity with him and Ajay TG (a film-maker) — both members of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, and others detained under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (1967) amended in 2004 to include key sections of the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act, 2002. Pota was itself repealed in 2004 following widespread criticism of abuse and human rights violations. The CSPSA allows for arbitrary detention of persons suspected of belonging to an unlawful organisation or participating in its activities or giving protection to any member of such an organisation, and human rights
organisations have demanded its repeal.

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June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | 1 Comment 

The Indian Judiciary, the Salwa Judum Criminal Vigilantes, and Political Prisoner Dr. Binayak Sen

by Analytical Monthly Review

Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its June 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed.

When the issue is class struggle, everyone knows that today’s judiciary in India exhibits no qualitative difference from that of the British colonial regime. When workers try to hold gate meetings, management goes to court and readily gets orders prohibiting meetings within a kilometre distance from the factory gate. When workers are forced to resort to strikes, then the police, judiciary, administration along with whichever parliamentary political party is in government become active, strikes are swiftly (even eagerly) declared illegal and proceedings begin to suppress the protest by severe police force. The police have a distressing record of willingness to apply third degree methods and engineer lock-up deaths on management allegations against workers, and judicial intervention is to say the least rare. An open alliance of the highest court with one side of the class struggle is the only reasonable conclusion to draw from the recent decision in T.N. Rangarajan vs. State of Tamil Nadu, holding that workers lack any fundamental, legal or moral right to strike. But management can resort to lockouts or closure, evade payment of gratuity, eat away workers’ PF and ESI funds, and know that they face at worst insignificant penalties and never police action.

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June 19, 2008 | Filed Under Protests, articles | Leave a Comment 

Dr Binayak Sen as I know him: Dr Sandeep Pandey

Dr Sandeep Pandey

I first met Binayak, wife Ilina and their two daughters Aparajita and Pranhita at the conclusion of Pokaran to Sarnath ‘Global Peace March’ on 6th August, 1999 at the Central Tibetan Institute of Higher Learning in Sarnath, near Varanasi . Sarnath is the place where Gautam Buddha delivered sermon to his first five disciples after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The peace march was symbolically between the place of destruction - Pokaran, to the place of peace - Sarnath. It began exactly a year after on the day when India tested the nuclear weapons in 1998 and concluded on the Hiroshima Day. The objective of the peace march was total global nuclear disarmament. Ilina had also brought with her drawings made by some children on the theme of nuclear disarmament. While the march was in progress for 88 days and 1500 kms, the Sen family was busy organizing activities in Raipur and their work area in its support. We also later got a chance to work together for the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), a national level platform of organizations and individuals committed towards nuclear disarmament.

Dr. Binayak Sen is currently in Raipur jail. He has been targeted under the draconian Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004, to silence the voices of humanity and justice. He is charged with sedition and conspiracy to wage war against the state, among other things. His trail has begun after a year in jail and his bail has been refused even by the Supreme Court. The six prosecution witnesses, out of a total of 89, who have been presented in court so far have failed to stand the cross examination. There doesn’t seem to be an iota of evidence against him. Yet, he is being illegally detained so that nobody dare question the experiment of Salwa Judum in Chattisgarh which legitimizes extra-constitutional violence and pits adivasis against adivasis. Binayak, who is the Chattisgarh General Secretary of nationally the most well known human rights organization, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which was founded by none other than Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, exposed the killing of three teachers and one student, all innocent, in Gopapalli, Dist. Dantewada on 4th November, 2004, which was being projected as an encounter by the police. In November 2005 Binayak organized an all India team of human rights activists to visit Dantewada and study the systematic decimation, rape, loot, arson of ordinary adivasis and their properties by the police and Special Police Officers in the name of Salwa Judum. Binayak also objected to the brutal oppression by police of adivasis who were opposing the take over of their lands in Bastar for setting up a Tata-Essar industry. How could the Chattisgarh government tolerate Binayak who was out to expose what they claim as their successful experiment of countering the Naxalites through a ’self motivated people’s movement,’ the Salwa Judum?

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June 19, 2008 | Filed Under statements | Leave a Comment 

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