Artists Demand Justice For Binayak Sen
By Sharmila Tagore & Others
26 January, 2011
Countercurrents.org
To
The Prime Minister
Government of India
New Delhi
26 January ‘11
Dear Shri Manmohan Singh
We, the undersigned, wish to express our deep concern at the victimisation and unjust imprisonment of well-known humanitarian and human rights defender Dr Binayak Sen, in Chhattisgarh.
Both the charge of ‘sedition and conspiracy’ and the verdict, on 24 December 2010 given by a Sessions Court in Raipur, sentencing Dr Sen to life imprisonment for are unfair, too extreme and undermines the credibility of our police and judiciary. While we understand that Dr Sen has the right to appeal to a superior court we are afraid the long drawn out judicial process itself has become a punishment on its own for this good doctor.
To arrest a citizen of India on false charges and deliberately subject him to years of custody and legal wrangles is to make a mockery of the very idea of justice and democracy in the country.
Dr Binayak Sen, it appears, is simply being harassed in a vindictive manner by the Chhattisgarh government to ‘teach a lesson’ to all human rights activists everywhere. We appeal to you to intervene in the case, press for a judicial review of the verdict and urgently undo the injustice being done to Dr Binayak Sen, who has spent over three decades serving the poor in remote parts of Chhattisgarh.
We also urge your government to completely scrap the law on ‘sedition’, a hangover from the British colonial period, as it is has no place in any independent and democratic country.
Sd.-
Sharmila Tagore
Naseeruddin Shah
Aparna Sen
Mahesh Bhatt
Girish Karnad
Rahul Bose
Ratna Pathak Shah
Imaad Shah
Gautam Ghose
Ashok Vajpeyi
M.K.Raina
Gauhar Raza
Anand Patwardhan
Rukmini Bhaya Nair
Ranjit Hoskote
Jerry Pinto
Pankaj Mishra
Murtaza Danish Husain
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.
