Posts Tagged ‘trial
EU observers for Binayak Sen’s trial
Sujay Mehdudia, The Hindu
NEW DELHI: The European Union and some of its member-States will send representatives as “observers” during the January 24 hearing of human rights activist Binayak Sen’s bail application in the Chhattisgarh High Court at Bilaspur.
Talking to The Hindu at an informal interaction here, Daniele Smadja, Ambassador, Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to India, said that apart from the EU, individual member-States such as Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Sweden would send their observers for the hearing.
“There are EU guidelines on human rights defenders. We give utmost attention to cases of individuals involved in the upholding of human rights. We have informed the Indian government of the decision to send observers,” she remarked.
Ms. Smadja said she was mandated by her colleagues in the EU to take up the matter.
Chhattisgarh high court admits Binayak Sen’s appeal against life sentence
The Chhattisgarh high court on Friday admitted an appeal filed by rights activist Binayak Sen, challenging the life sentence given to him by a local court after being convicted for sedition and links with Maoists, and posted the matter for hearing on January 24.
After preliminary hearing, division bench of Justices TP Sharma and Justice RL Jhanwar asked the trial court to submit the case diary and deferred hearing on the case to January 24.
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Binayak Sen’s conviction: a mockery of justice : The Lancet
On Jan 4, the day this issue of The Lancet went to press, Binayak Sen should have been celebrating his 61st birthday. Instead, found guilty of treason and sedition by a court in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Sen is facing the bleak prospect of a life behind bars. It is an inhumane sentence for a committed humanitarian, whose life before his imprisonment was devoted to improving the health and welfare of some of the most marginalised and poverty-stricken people in India—the Adivasi. This work led to Sen becoming the first Indian recipient of the Jonathan Mann award for Global Health and Human Rights in 2008.
From the outset the charges against Sen reeked of political motivation—a reaction to Sen’s tireless documentation of human rights abuse at the hands of the state. He was accused, on the flimsiest of evidence, of acting as a courier for the imprisoned Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal. The subsequent trial, spanning more than 3 years, was Kafkaesque. Its conclusion is a travesty.
Reaction to the ruling was swift, with the Indian press unanimous in their criticism of the court’s decision. Amnesty International described Sen as a prisoner of conscience, while a statement signed by over 80 prominent academics worldwide decried the sentence as savagery. The Lancet adds its voice to this chorus of condemnation.
In April, 2009, we called for the Indian Government to intervene in the case, and ensure that justice be done. An injustice can still be overturned by India’s supreme court. If it is not, the already profound damage done to India’s credentials as an upholder of human rights will be damaged for years to come. Where the state failed to provide for its poorest citizens, Sen stepped in to give them health care and to champion their rights. His reward: to be convicted under a section of the penal code first introduced by the British to quell political dissent, and later used to convict Mahatma Ghandi. On his conviction, Ghandi argued that the administration of the law had been “prostituted consciously or unconsciously for the benefit of the exploiter”. The conviction of Binayak Sen shows that, in parts of modern India, precious little has changed.
Democrats to the rescue
Times of India, 7 January 2011
by Dipankar Gupta
When Binayak Sen was arrested it gave a much-needed boost to the Maoists. As they advocate violence to achieve their ends, it is like oxygen for them every time the state commits a travesty of justice. It is worth remembering that armed movements, of whatever variety, have succeeded only in autocratic, dictatorial and monarchical states, but never in democratic ones.
If there is one major reason why communists have failed in contemporary times, it is because they do not know how to function in a democracy. Whether it is Russia, China or Cuba, communists struck successfully in places where democracy was missing. This generalisation holds true not just in the case of insurrectionary communists, but for all those who advocate violence as a political weapon.
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Binayak Sen moves HC against conviction
Binayak Sen has moved the Chhattisgarh High Court, challenging the life sentence awarded to him by a Raipur court for sedition and alleged links with Maoists.
In his appeal, Sen, 58, argued that his involvement in the alleged crimes was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
“Circumstantial evidence that forms the basis of this judgement lacks cohesion… and the arguments of the defence were ignored,” the appeal, challenging the December 24 judgement of Additional District and Sessions Judge B P Verma, contended.
The appeal was filed by Sen’s lawyer Mahendra Dubey on Wednesday. “The lower court neither properly followed the procedure laid down for trial of criminal offences nor explained the evidence adduced in accordance with the law,” Dubey said.
Shutting him up : Praful Bidwai
Hindustan Times, January 03, 2011
by Praful Bidwai
The Raipur sessions court judgment against civil liberties defender and health activist Binayak Sen has provoked outrage. His two-year long detention had drawn protests from the world over. The only substantial charge against Sen is that he passed on three letters from Narayan Sanyal, an undertrial, suspected — but not yet proved — to be a Maoist, to the Maoist leadership.
It takes several leaps of imagination, or nasty prejudice, to pronounce that carrying three pieces of paper containing trivialities such as congratulating the CPI (Maoist) on completing its party congress, amounts to sedition. Sedition means spreading disaffection against the state. It was introduced into the Indian Penal Code by the colonial State to repress the freedom struggle and muzzle the freedom of expression.
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What does Court say in Dr Binayak Sen’s case
We have been listening and reading about Dr Sen’s court decision since the day it has been pronounced. But since the original decision is in Hindi and is 92 pages long, hence many would be possibly have got the opportunity to read and understand it. I hope, u appreciate the fact that the judgement can be fully appreciated only when one has gone through it in its totality.
Here is my attempt at presenting the basic and more important facts of the Court judgement in the much-discussed Dr Binayak Sen case (translating the Hindi version to the best of my abilities)., without giving any cooments on my behalf. This being a highly sensitive matter, I extend my apologies for any unintended error or misrepresentation.
Amitabh Thakur
IPS,
Currently at IIM Lucknow
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Jyoti Punwani on The Trial of Binayak Sen
[This article was written before the judgment of the sessions court, Raipur.]
Economic & Political Weekly, December 25, 2010 vol xlv no 52
The Trial of Binayak Sen
by Jyoti Punwani
Human rights activist Binayak Sen spent two years in jail before being granted bail. Charged with sedition, waging war against the Indian state, as well as being a Maoist supporter, both under normal laws and under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities Act, the evidence has been full of discrepancies and contradictions on material points. The trial has just concluded at the sessions court in Raipur.
Muzzling Voices of Dissent – Kashmir Times Editorial
Kashmir Times, 26 December 2010
Editorial
An innocent man, human rights activist Binayak Sen, may spend the rest of his life in prison because he dared to go against the stream and talk about the state’s oppressive policies in Maoist areas. Perhaps dissent doesn’t qualify to be democratic enough. That is why we suddenly see the liberal use of sedition charges being slapped on people who do not agree with the State, or have a different point of view. Laws like sedition and Official Secrets Act, remnants of an imperial past, have been used for years to muzzle any kind of criticism or opposition by powers that be. But such charges were never invoked as a matter of routine. If they were, it didn’t much appear in the limelight. The problem today is not just the ruthless state. It is also how discourse, in media or academic circles, is manipulated and monopolised. It is tailor made faithfully toeing the official line without a whimper, forbidding informed opinion from percolating down to the masses.
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Unscreened footage throws light on Binayak Sen case
Aman Sethi
The Hindu
Raipur: A pair of burly hands affixes several lengths of masking tape to an open brown bag. Then the same hands are shown to belong to an officer of the Chhattisgarh police; one hand holds the bag open as the other riffles through the bag’s contents. “This is what we have taken,” says a voice in Hindi.
When the police leave the house of Binayak Sen, an award-winning physician and human rights activist, and walk the down the stairs, one can still see the same brown bag, unsealed and swinging from the right hand of a policeman.
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Binayaksen.net is one of many efforts by well wishers and supporters of Dr Binayak Sen to bring the injustice being done to him by the government of Chhattisgarh to the attention of people around the world. 
