Home

Follow Countercurrents on Twitter 

Why Subscribe ?

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

Editor's Picks

Press Releases

Action Alert

Feed Burner

Read CC In Your
Own Language

Bradley Manning

India Burning

Mumbai Terror

Financial Crisis

Iraq

AfPak War

Peak Oil

Globalisation

Localism

Alternative Energy

Climate Change

US Imperialism

US Elections

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Book Review

Gujarat Pogrom

Kandhamal Violence

WSF

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

Submission Policy

About CC

Disclaimer

Fair Use Notice

Contact Us

Search Our Archive

Subscribe To Our
News Letter



Our Site

Web

Name: E-mail:

 

Printer Friendly Version

An Uncomfortable Read: The Story of Dr Binayak Sen

By Diana Mavroleon & Agrotosh Mookerjee

18 March, 2011
Countercurrents.org

Mother of Dr Sen on demo in Raipur

The plight of Dr Binayak Sen is of such an extreme nature that even the most abstract and vivid of imaginations is stretched to its absolute limit. The story is set in the relatively newly formed (Nov 2005) lndian state of Chhattisgarh. Were this story chosen to be developed into a work of an horrific, dramatic 'fiction' it would read as incredulous, its reader cheated of a comprehensive introduction, a coherent plot development and a logical, even plausible conclusion. The story makes for an uncomfortable read of vengeful and un-ceasing cruelty, ruthless and despicable corruption, twisted and callous contrivance. All this adding up to the totally unacceptable and tragic 'fact' that one of lndia's most distinguished and experienced of doctors specializing in the treatment and prevention of TB, women and child welfare, and a worldwide respected civil rights defender has been incarcerated by the right-wing Chhattisgarh government and state police after a propaganda campaign was launched against him based on fabricated charges of being a courier for the Maoists and of Sedition, a draconian law used during the British Rule to incarcerate the thousands upon thousands who fought for lndia's freedom. ln the same way Sen's non-violent philosophy follows the path of past lndian freedom fighters to whom ‘sedition' charges were also made: Aurobindo Ghosh, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Ghandi. As soon as the judgment appeared, at least two things became quite clear to anyone who took the trouble to read it and the copious and public legal scrutiny that it has generated: firstly, that the judgment was a miscarriage of justice, being secured on extremely dubious evidence; and secondly, that it ignored established legal standards of conviction as m any of the charges against Sen stem from laws that contravene international standards. The repeated delays and the conduct of his trial have only exasperated doubts throughout India and internationally on the fairness and validity of his trial that concluded in an absolute mockery of Rule of Law , thereby the Constitution of lndia .

VR Krishna Iyer succinctly sums up the disappearance of justice, and argues against Sen's sedition charge in his article: The Quality of Mercy in a Judicial System. The Hindu, 6th March, 2011.

“Most of the defence arguments seem to have been ignored altogether”... “Once again, we are left wondering whether our country is turning into something that its founders would, if our nationalist hagiographies are to be believed, scarcely have recognized: a kleptocratic republic in which the state and powerful institutions are the foremost violators of its laws. When a state organizes the fabrication of evidence for someone like Binayak Sen, and the judge simply relays the opinions of the prosecution without considering the arguments and the collapse of the evidence in his own court, how is one supposed to retain any confidence in the system of justice that we have?”…

“ Every confident motion, every instance of strong criticism that seeks to expose a government's operation against the people and their liberties, is not meant to overthrow the government and its bad politics. This is not sedition but a patriotic mission on account of public commitment. When you go to the villages and serve the people by providing them medical aid, where the state has failed to do so, that is patriotism, not sedition. Because the government does nothing to serve the people's right to live it is not sedition; otherwise every writ petition filed against a government or one of its agencies could be considered as seditious. Every activity in support of public causes that are meant to counter the government's grievous failure is the fulfillment of a democratic duty, not sedition.”

What is now becoming globally acknowledged are the true charges held against Sen: his self-less and courageous efforts to expose the collusion between the lndian State and giant corporations who together in 2005 created and have since funded and maintained an armed militia, otherwise known as the Salwa Judum, whose clearing process includes the maiming, torture, murder and rape of the rural poor of Chhattisgarh: Adivasi (tribal people) and scheduled castes. The purpose of this private vigilante force with members drawn from local inhabitants, usually through coercion or force, all under the auspices of the State, is to clear indigenous people occupying rich and dense forestry and agricultural land (80% of the population depend on agriculture, 43% of land was originally cultivated, 41% was forestry), laden with copious amounts of natural resources including over 26 mineral types (e.g. aluminium, copper, zinc, iron ore, semi-precious stones and diamonds). These natural resources have created the market place for multi-nationals and lndian corporates to stake their bids for industrial developments and have contributed massively to the meteoric growth of India's economy, otherwise known as the era of Neo-liberalism or more accurately, Pro-capitalism. Dizzying illuminations for the elite classes of 20% compared to excruciating, dark days for the remaining 80% whose average wage is still less than Rs 5 a day.

Within the first 6 months of the Salwa Judum forming, approximately 36,000 tribal people were forcibly removed from over 650 villages. As a first-hand witness of these state atrocities, Dr Sen was appalled by the condition of the poverty stricken Adivasis living in the middle of an anarchic, dirty civil war: Salwa Judum and the State versus the Maoist guerrilla armed forces. By the end of 2005 Dr Sen was appealing desperately to the human rights community to intervene and bring a cessation to the violence in Chhattisgarh. Consequently a 14 member team from 5 organisations carried out an investigation in the district of Dantewada to document victims killed by both the Maoist and Salwa Judum. The record of deaths, interviews with the local people and other revelations of this investigation were compiled in the publicly available PUCL report- “When the State Makes War On Its Own People”

http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Human-rights/2006/slawajudum.htm

The following extract is from a draft report: Vol. 1. Ministry of Rural Development, Government of lndia, New Delhi . Chapter 4, ‘Under State Negation of Tribal Rights to Land Based Reforms. Conclusion: The Biggest Grab of Tribal Lands after Columbus.' pages160-161.

A civil war like situation has gripped the southern districts of Bastar, Dantewara and Bijapur in Chattishgarh. The contestants are the armed squads of tribal men and women of the erstwhile Peoples War Group now known as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the one side and the armed tribal fighters of the Salva Judum created and encouraged by the government and supported with the firepower and organization of the central police forces. This open declared war will go down as the biggest land grab ever, if it plays out as per the script.

The drama being scripted by Tata Steel and Essar Steel who wanted 7 villages or thereabouts, each to mine the richest lode of iron ore available in India .

There was initial resistance to land acquisition and displacement from the tribals. The state withdrew its plans under fierce resistance. An argument put forward was ‘you don't play foul with the Murias', it's a matter of life and death and Murias don't fear death. A new approach was necessary if the rich lodes of iron ore are to be mined. The new approach came about with the Salva Judum, euphemistically meaning peace hunt. Ironically the Salva Judum was led by Mahendra Karma, elected on a Congress ticket and the Leader of the Opposition and supported whole heartedly by the BJP led government.

The Salva Judum was headed and peopled by the Murias, some of them erstwhile cadre and local leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Behind them are the traders, contractors and miners waiting for a successful result of their strategy. The first financiers of the Salva Judum were Tata and the Essar in the quest for ‘peace'. The first onslaught of the Salva Judum was on Muria villagers who still owed allegiance to the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It turned out to be an open war between brothers. 640 villages as per official statistics were laid bare, burnt to the ground and emptied with the force of the gun and the blessings of the state. 350,000 tribals, half the total population of Dantewada district are displaced, their womenfolk raped, their daughters killed, and their youth maimed. Those who could not escape into the jungle were herded together into refugee camps run and managed by the Salva Judum. Others continue to hide in the forest or have migrated to the nearby tribal tracts in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. 640 villages are empty. Villages sitting on tons of iron ore are effectively de-peopled and available for the highest bidder. The latest information that is being circulated is that both Essar Steel and Tata Steel are willing to take over the empty landscape and manage the mines.”

What became transparent then, was that government assertions pertaining to a spontaneous people's movement was in fact a state-organised anti-insurgency campaign and rather than questioning its own non-performance on basic development, the government has resorted to clearing villages on a massive scale. Attached to a statement written by Sen, were Certified copies of Supreme Court orders that make critical observations of the Salwa Judum. www.binayaksen.net/2010/12/final-statement-of-dr-binayak-sen/

The plot is thickened by the hypocrisy of the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility' policy. The likes of Vedanta, Tata, Essar, (to name but a few) of the State-colluding corporations doing everything but carry through their ‘Nurturing People', ‘Empowering Communities' and ‘Integrated Village Development Programmes'. Running in parallel with a nation whose current growth rate stands at 9%, is the grim reality remaining: tens of millions of lndia's poorest face living conditions worse than sub-Saharan Africa; an estimated 35% of adults and 40% of children suffering from chronic malnourishment, with less than 1% of the GDP spent on public health, and for every 1 rupee spent on the poorest 80%, 3 rupees is spent on the richest 20%. At the end of this article is supplied ‘Background lnformation' on Dr Binayak Sen. Organizations he has helped to establish and maintain have achieved extraordinary results. The state initiated ‘Mitanin' programme selected the Sen's RUPANTAR community health organisation as the pilot project for the Mitanin scheme.

“From the time Chhattisgarh State came into being in 2000, Sen and his wife llina were deeply involved in various social welfare measures of the State…When the State initiated structural reforms in the health care system, they invited Dr Sen to be a member of the State Health Advisory Committee, and he gladly accepted”

ln the Mitanin programme Rupantar is described as a partner of the Chhattisgarh Government in these glowing terms: “Though it got registered in 1992, it has a long radical and progressive tradition, as its founders were part of the people's liberation movements in Chhattisgarh, long before the inception of the trust. Rupantar is mainly working for alternative paradigms of development and its various human rights interfaces...lt is also the coordinating group within the state, for the countrywide Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).”

The rigorous and far-reaching report compiled by 9 doctors and a civil rights lawyer/teacher/author who knew Sen personally and possessed an innate understanding of his work, included an appeal to fellow citizens, doctors and health workers to join the Release Binayak Sen Campaign . They wrote:

“We believe that it is our duty as doctors and public health workers that we inform ourselves of the developments in the country which are going to have long term impact on the health of our people. ln the context of Binayak Sen's arrest we need to perhaps understand the root cause of the Naxalite movement so that we better understand why the State has tried to frame Dr Sen as being a Naxalite and denied his contribution in the field of public health by calling him a namesake doctor”.

ln Doctors in Defence of Dr. Binayak Sen , chapter ‘An Appeal' (p.109), is a report including a series of observations from ‘The Expert Group to the Planning Commission, Government of lndia, entitled: ‘Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas in May 2006.'

“lt is not desirable to insulate the area and people from civil society groups, media and political organizations and penalize those that seek to establish contact with affected people to gather information about the action of naxalites and state agencies, and speak or write about their observations. Besides being un-democratic, it is counter-productive as well. Reverse this trend. Rather, seek cooperation of civil society organizations with good track record in providing credible information on the impact of the movement and of state action on the affected people, which may help in critical appraisal of the policy pursued by the state.”

The report ends with a call to the nation to “debate on the model of development that is being imposed on lndia”.

(lndian Doctor in Jail, The Story of Dr Binayak Sen. A Report to the Nation by Doctors in Defence of Dr. Binayak Sen. 2008, Promilla & Co.)

Sen, as with his fellow doctors and public health workers, was committed to the values enshrined in the Constitution of lndia. His concerns were with issues relating to the welfare of the poor. Sen applied his knowledge, professional expertise and humanitarian concerns as a doctor and an advocate of non-violence to all, and did not distinguish between caste nor creed. lt was for precisely these principles that the lndian government has used Sen as a ‘scape -goat' a ‘red flag' and ultimately as a victim of state oppression, the corrosion of civil rights, the threat, descent and potential collapse of a democracy.

The hypocrisy is over-whelming. For Dr Sen to receive accolades from one hand and a life prison sentence from the other is a clear indication of state management, overseas funding and corporate duplicities and insecurities. lt have everything to do with why the majority of lndia's poorest people continue to be un-effected by the sloshing around of ‘Aid' and ‘lnitiatives' and ‘Targets' and ‘Missions'… the list of old chestnuts is well known but are the true results of them?

From 2000 onwards a ‘Rights based approach' underlied all DflD funding. Between 2001-2007 PACS (Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme) “invested £27 million into informing 20,000 of lndia's poorest villages of their rights and helping them claim their dues.” Apparently… “this has reached over 6 million poor and marginalized people in 6 states of Chhattisgarh” . lndia is the largest recipient of DflD aid and received over £1 billion in bi-lateral aid between 2003-2008. But does this have anything to do with the £34 million paid out to Western businesses and technical consultants DfID funds in order to carry out their aid projects? DflD continue to provide funding to UK based NGO's eg Action Aid, Oxfam. What are the responses of NGOs to the atrocities being carried out in the name of Neo-liberalism? ls this not a high-jacking of poor people's struggle, where only a tiny percentage receive their ‘rights and dues' and the rest are driven forcibly from their lands or else have to contend with the butt or bullet of a rifle! When your house is burnt down and you are driven out to live in make-shift camps with a shortage of clean drinking water and food, welfare and medical care for your family, employment for your adults and education for your children, the question needs to be asked… Where are the initiatives of the DflD and other funders and all the related NGOs now?

Amartya Sen points out in: ‘Development As Freedom' (Oxford University Press.1999) …”An adequately broad view of development is sought in order to focus on evaluative scrutiny of things that really matter, and in particular to avoid the neglect of crucially important roles.” …”Political rights, including freedom of expression and discussion, are not only pivotal in inducing social responses to economic needs, they are central to the conceptualization of economic needs themselves”.

The DflD states, “lndia is politically stable and is the worlds largest democracy. Engagement with political processes is good across the social spectrum” .

What is clearly not being adequately investigated are areas such as why only a 8.3% of lndian Parliamentary seats are held by women, a quarter of global child deaths and a fifth of global maternal deaths occur in lndia. Recently the DflD pledged a further 1 billion in aid. “DflD is now developing a second phrase to build on the achievements of the first (phase) and make these impacts more sustainable”…”and is also working closely with government ministries in focus states to improve public financial management' and “pools its funding with the World Bank, USAID and the European Commission, whilst being in partnership agreement with several other organizations' . The UNMDG (United Nations Millennium Development Goals) has a Global Action Plan with “8 anti-poverty goals to reach the poor, hungry and diseased by 2015”. The Adivasi of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (DfID's 7 target states) must be rushing to their doors….if they have one!

It is precisely these contradictions that Dr Sen was attempting to examine and expose to the Indian public, the international community and the lndian State . During Sen's 7 months release on bail after his original arrest on May 14 th 2007, with a period of 2 years incarceration whilst awaiting trial, he continued with civil rights activities. In an address to the Asian College of Journalism in 3 rd May 2010, entitled:

‘Hunger, Dispossession and the Quest for Justice' Dr Binayak Sen asks:

"There is a question that I would like to raise before this assembly, and that is the issue of genocide. Most people think that genocide has to do only with large scale direct killing, but the declaration of the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, which was issued on 9th Dec 1948, one day before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, tells us clearly that in addition to killing, the creation of ‘physically and mentally hazardous conditions which could put the survival of particular communities at risk” would also come within the ambit of genocide. Evidence that what is happening in central India is tantamount to genocide on a massive scale stares us in the face. What is shocking is the inability of large sections of our leadership to read the writing on the wall."..."The inability to interpret evidence that is crying out to be recognized, and the tendency to lapse into facile and convenient formulae for resolution is a curse that plagues many professions. I would like to give an example from my own, with regard to the formulation of the national Policy for the control of tuberculosis. In a country where 33% of the adult population have a BMI below 18.5, and which also has 1/6 of the world's population and 1/3 of the total global burden of tuberculosis , one would think that the bidirectional association between malnutrition and tuberculosis would be the focus of intense study. This is not the case. India is the single largest contributor to the global burden of morbidity, mortality and drug resistance in tuberculosis. An estimated 8.5 million Indians suffer from tuberculosis . There is an annual incidence of 87,000 cases of multidrug resistant tuberculosis ,and an estimated annual mortality of 370,000 persons." ..."Certain groups like scheduled tribes and women fared worst, with life threatening levels of under-nutrition.” The report concludes… “This report is a stark illustration of the adverse synergy of the epidemics of under nutrition and tuberculosis. The consequences are extensive disease on the one hand and severe wasting on the other, both of which can cause mortality independently and in concert. The need to address the nutritional needs of poor patients with tuberculosis is an urgent imperative on scientific, ethical and humanitarian grounds”.

www.asiamedia.org.in/ACJ%20CONVOCATION.asp

THE ARREST

ln May of 2007, while Sen and his wife Dr Ilina Sen, (also a Physician and Head of Department of Women Studies at Mahatma Gandhi Int. Hindi University ) were visiting Sen's mother in Kolkata, reports came his way that allegations of being a Naxalite sympathizer were being made against him by the Chhattisgarh police. Sen immediately returned to Chhattisgarh and voluntarily visited Bilaspur police station to challenge the allegations. Initially the police offered him tea and were polite before suddenly turning aggressive. Dr Sen did not return home that day. lnstead, this was to be his first day of over 2 years incarceration. During the Kafkaesque, idiosyncratic and hopelessly protracted trial, Sen was continually denied bail. Rajinder Sachar, a senior judge stated at the time: “Denial of bail for Binayak Sen is a blot on the Indian judiciary”. Sacher was not alone in his concern and dismay over the heinous depths of corruption the judiciary of Chhattisgarh was willing to stoop to in order to see Sen secured behind bars. At no point before or during the trial could any defence on earth have saved him from the outcome of the case. What is so obviously and frustratingly apparent is that Sen's fate had been sealed long before the case had even started.

Sen eventually received bail for a period of 7 months before being sentenced on December 24 th 2010 to a life sentence for Sedition and for being a Naxalite supporter. An example of the Prosecution's fabricated and speculative evidence included a letter written by Sen, apparently using “terrorist language” in which he had referred to George Bush as: “a chimpanzee in the White House”.

“The central point around which the verdict's narrative is woven in the arrest and seizure of certain articles, including the aforementioned journals and three letters supposedly written by Narayan Sanyal to his party comrades, handed over to Binayak Sen when he met Sanyal in jail, and then handed over by Sen to Pijush Guha who was supposed to have then passed them on to Sanyal's party comrades. This supposedly establishes a chain binding the three in a conspiratorial relationship”…”thus both Sen and Guha assist in the activities of a seditious and unlawful organization”.

(‘Note on the Binayak Sen Judgement. Raipur, 26 th Dec. 2010'. Dr llina Sen, Sudha Bharadwaj, Advocate, and Kavita Shrivastava, PUCL).

Sen had been concerned with the rights of prisoners in his capacity as a Human Rights worker. This fabrication of the Prosecution relates to Sen's visits to Narayan Sanyal, a 79 year old Maoist ideologue inprisoned in a Raipur jail, after a request was made by his family for Sen to visit him as they were concerned of his welfare and health. Sen facilitated Sanyal's surgery and kept his family informed about the process. “During this period there was considerable correspondence between the prisoner's family, jail administration and medical authorities, of which copies were marked to me.” A Statement by Dr. Binayak Sen . www.binayaksen.net/2010/12/final-statement-of-dr-binayak-sen/

Permission was obtained for all visits from the police authorities. All visits were under the strict supervision of prison guards who later refused to testify against Sen of any suspicious or inappropriate behaviour during these visits. A note on the now imprisoned Sen: Sen suffers from a heart condition. The jail authorities have continually refused his requests to attend a clinic of his choice. This request is within Sen's legal rights. Sen has also been forbidden to treat his numerous inmates suffering from TB without any medical care. This is surely tantamount to a most ruthless form of torture.

CONCLUSION

Hopes and concerns that justice for Dr Binayak Sen will ultimately prevail is now shared between thousands of his supporters throughout India and worldwide, along with 55 solidarity groups so far in the UK, US and Canada, 40 Nobel Laureates, and the global voices of Amnesty lnternational, Human Rights Watch, the Global Health Council and Physicians for Human Rights. The question is being asked : “How can this erudition, humanitarianism, and self-less dedication to the cause of serving lndia's poorest, be tantamount to sedition?”. lf the charge of sedition amounts to the ‘inciting of anti-national feelings', then it is precisely these feelings against the neglect of responsibility and of blatant injustice that are being raised, courageously and defiantly by Dr Binayak Sen. lt should also be remembered that thousands of other people remain incarcerated by the lndian State for as much the same reasons as Dr Sen. The paradox of this story then, is contained in the colonial mindset employed by the present day government of India. A form of osmosis has occurred between the State and the former British colonial rule. Civil rights, humanitarian causes and struggles for equality were all part of India's long and bloody fight for independence. How long will it take until the (higher) powers that be; the High Court and the Supreme Court, decide that justice must finally take place? That the Rule of Law… “where certain un-written universal principles of fairness, morality and justice” now need to apply. This is yet to be determined. On 9 th February 2011 the Chhattisgarh High Court refused Sen's application for bail. The case will now be referred by llena Sen to the Supreme Court of India. In the case of Dr Binayak Sen, “ clemency” is the operative word we are waiting for.

DR BINAYAK SEN: HIS LIFE”S WORK, SO FAR.

Binayak Sen is a paediatrician, public health specialist, human rights activist and national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) based in Chhattisgarh state, India. He has been extending health care, monitoring the health and nutrition status and defending the human rights of indigenous tribal and others of the poorest people of Chhattisgarh. He had a distinguished academic career in Vellore , graduating in Medicine and later acquiring an M.D. in Paediatrics. From 1976-78 he was a faculty member at the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi . He then left his academic appointment to work in the Friends Rural Centre, Rasulia , a community based rural health centre in the Hoshangabad district of M.P. focusing intensively in the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis, and where he came to understand many of the social and economic causes of the disease. ln 1982, together with llena, he moved to Chhattisgarh. Sen has been an active member of the Medico Friend Circle , a national organization of health professionals working towards an alternative health system responsive to the needs of the poor. He worked with mine workers in Dalli Rajahara and helped them set up and manage their own Shaheed Hospital . He then moved to a mission hospital in Tilda where he worked in Paediatrics and Community Health . After the death of Shankar Guha Niyogi with whom he was closely associated, Binayak moved to Raipur. From 1991, he has worked in developing relevant models of primary health care in Chhattisgarh . He was among those who initiated the community based health worker programme across Chhattisgarh, now well known as the Mitanin programme . He continues to provide health care to the children of the marginalised, especially the migrant labourers. Sen helped organize fact finding campaigns into human rights violations in Chattisgarh including custody deaths, fake encounters, hunger deaths, dysentery epidemics and malnutrition. He brought the large scale oppression and mal-governance within the so called Salwa Judum in Dantewara to national and international attention. Sen and his wife, Dr. Ilina Sen, are the founders of Rupantar , a community-based non-governmental organization that has trained, deployed and monitored the work of community health workers spread throughout 20 villages. Rupantar's activities include initiatives to counter alcohol abuse and violence against women, and to promote food security. As a social worker Dr Sen's achievements include helping villagers who were victims of loan fraud and organising emergency grain distribution during the drought in Chhattisgarh in 2001. He helped the people set up grain and seed banks , a model which the state government subsequently adopted. But it was his achievements as a human rights activist , which explains the political motivation behind his arrest, incarceration and life sentence. Sen is an advisor to Jan Swasthya Sahyog , a health care organization committed to developing a low-cost, effective, community health programme in the tribal and rural areas of Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh. ln 2004 Dr. Sen was the recipient of the Paul Harrison Award for a lifetime of service to the rural poor. In 2007 he was awarded the R.R. Keithan Gold Medal by The Indian Academy of Social Sciences. The citation describes him as “one of the most eminent scientists of India”. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights for "his years of service to poor and tribal communities in India, his effective leadership in establishing self-sustaining health care services where none existed, and his unwavering commitment to civil liberties and human rights”…

Coming out in support of Binayak Sen on Jan 8 th 2011 in The Times of lndia, Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen said that the life sentence given to the doctor-activist looked like a "miscarriage of justice". Sen also hoped that the judgement convicting Binayak, will not “survive the challenge made to the higher courts of the country.” Sen was addressing the book launch of: 'A Doctor to Defend - the Story of Binayak Sen' written by journalist and documentary filmmaker Minnie Vaid. He referred to the ‘exemplary' work Binayak did to reach healthcare to people in rural Chhattisgarh and said “ the judgement also raises some questions about India's democracy, legal framework and Indian engagement with issue of equity.”… "As Indian citizens, we have right to pose questions -- like how some petty thinking became so dominant in the Indian legal system."

He also referred to the sedition charge brought against writer Arundhati Roy and made the point that her comments allegedly offended "patriotic sentiments"..."In a democracy, we have no obligation to air only patriotic sentiments. If some people don't understand it...this is about the foundation of democracy." To a question whether this judgement would discourage physicians who want to work in remote rural areas, he said “lt can be a discouragement if it survives the challenge made to higher courts.”

Whilst Sen remains incarcerated, 264 clinics in rural Chhattisgarh are without the attendance of their doctor. The need to demand a full and thorough public enquiry into the circumstances of Dr Sen's arrest and incarceration and the involvement of political and corporate stakeholders in his relentless persecution is ever more crucial. lf you would like to offer your support to the: Release Binayak Sen Campaign , please go to: www.freebinayaksen.org

(further reading):

lndian Doctor in Jail, The Story of Dr Binayak Sen. A Report to the Nation by Doctors in Defence of Dr. Binayak Sen. Promilla & Co., Publishers, New Delhi, 2008.

A Doctor to Defend: The Binayak Sen Story. Minnie Vaid, Rajpal and Sons, 2011.

 

 

 


 




 


Comments are not moderated. Please be responsible and civil in your postings and stay within the topic discussed in the article too. If you find inappropriate comments, just Flag (Report) them and they will move into moderation que.