Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
CONDEMN UNEQUIVOCALLY THE MURDER OF JUSTICE BY THE SESSIONS COURT IN RAIPUR IN THE BINAYAK SEN CASE!
COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
185/3, FOURTH FLOOR, ZAKIR NAGAR, NEW DELHI-25
24/12/10
PRESS RELEASE
CONDEMN UNEQUIVOCALLY THE MURDER OF JUSTICE BY THE SESSIONS COURT IN RAIPUR IN THE BINAYAK SEN CASE!
LET US UNITEDLY FIGHT TO REPEAL ALL FASCIST DRACONIAN LAWS INCLUDING UAPA AND THE CHHATTISGARH SPECIAL PUBLIC SECURITY ACT!
The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) condemns unequivocally the murder of justice in the case of Dr. Binayak Sen, a people’s doctor and one of the first civil libertarians to expose the state sponsored Salwa Judum that was undertaken by the BJP government on the tribal people in Chhattisgarh and ably supported by the Congress which is the opposition party in the state. In fact Dr. Sen while also exposing one of the worst cases in post-47 India of malnutrition and total neglect of the everyday life of the tribal people in the region showed the world the shocking story that was slowly unfolding—a slow genocide of the people in this region. And along with this slow genocide was the barbaric onslaught of the state sponsored Salwa Judum. Yes it was the voice of conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen against this murder, rape and loot of the tribal people that arouse the conscience of the people of the subcontinent as well as all democratic and freedom loving people of the world. To condemn such a person to life imprisonment u/s of 120(B), 124(A) of the IPC and 1,2,3,5, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Sec 39 (2) of the UAPA (2004 amended) without even an iota of evidence brings once again forth the real face of Indian democracy with the judiciary reflecting the abysmal nadir to which the system has convoluted iself to.
All supposed pillars of democracy of the Indian state are increasingly proving to be hollow for the common people fighting for their livelihoods and those who raise the issues of the most exploited, and oppressed being the target of ire of a state that is day by day churning out more and more anti-people policies and supplementing it with a penal system teethed with the worst draconian laws. The case of Dr. Binayak Sen is a reminder to every democratic and freedom loving people of the subcontinent to once again raise their voice unitedly against such a penal state that is assuming fascist proportions. Notwithstanding the fact that about 22 noble prize winners from all over the world had sought his immediate freedom and lauded the exemplary work Dr. Sen had in the medical sciences, in popularising it among the poorest of the poor, and in providing the best of treatment to the impoverished adivasis in Central India, what the state could give him in return was life imprisonment for a case that hardly has any evidence!
This is the same state that has given blanket protection for all the scamsters and looters, be it the politician, bureaucrat, coporate honchos, and last but not the least judges right from the sessions court to the highest seat of justice in India.
And naturally what can a doctor who is stubborn enough to go to the most impoverished regions of ‘Shining India’ and work among the poorest of the poor for their betterment, let alone survival expect from a system which was always living in a world of denial about the existence of such a world! And his only crime—that he had dared the criminal negligence of a state which had blood in its hands of a slow, but cold and calculated genocide of a people through systematically denying any opportunity to live a life of dignity!
It is high time that all democratic and freedom loving people should join hands to raise their voice against the mockery of justice and once again fight to put an end to all such draconian laws of colonial vinatage. Today it is Dr. Binayak Sen. Tomorrow it can be anyone of us.
In Solidarity,
Gurusharan Singh
President
Amit Bhattacharyya
Secretary General
SAR Geelani
Working President
Rona Wilson
Secretary, Public Relations
Friday, December 24, 2010
Arundhati Roy on life sentence for Binayak Sen
“A couple of years for the bosses of Union Carbide and a life sentence for Binayak Sen,” said celebrated writer and activist Arundhati Roy, referring to the sentence handed down to those accused in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984.
“After producing Marx's Das Kapital and a letter from the Indian Social Institute as evidence against him, the crisis of Indian democracy does not get more dangerous than this,” Ms. Roy said, referring to the quality of the evidence marshalled by the police in their case against Dr. Sen.
Outrage for Christmas from Indian Government - Physicians for Human Rights call for release of Binayak Sen
Jonathan Fine of Physicians for Human Rights with Binayak Sen
PHR and dozens of other human rights and medical organizations have repeatedly called for the release of the doctor who was tried for alleged conspiracy against the State. Dr. Sen was arrested in 2007, detained for two years, and released on bail in May 2009. In 2008, he was awarded the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights by the Global Health Council. Sen was unable to attend the ceremony in Washington that year but his wife, Dr. Ilina Sen, received the honor on his behalf.
PHR calls on those involved in the decisions related Dr. Sen’s plight to recognize that the case has involved innuendo and politicized charges from the very beginning. Many following the trial, including Indian journalists for major national newspapers have described the trial as “farcical.”
SIGN THE PETITION FOR BINAYAK SEN HERE :
Outrage for Christmas from Indian Government - NTUI strongly condemns Dr. Binayak Sen life imprisonment conviction for treason
Today a Raipur Additional District and Sessions Court held Dr Binayak Sen and two other people guilty of treason, and sentenced them to life imprisonment for trying to help Naxals establish a network to fight the state.The court pronounced the verdict convicting Dr Binayak Sen, Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha guilty of treason and waging war against the state. Dr Sen was arrested soon after the verdict was pronounced.
Dr. Binayak Sen, a doctor of the working class and civil rights activist in Chattisgarh, was arrested under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in May 2007. He remained in prison for full two years, before being released in May 2009. The whole charade of the Chattisgarh law enforcement machinery was fully played out in full public eye over this whole period. Today, with the conviction of Dr. Sen, another chapter in the charade is completed.
This case received international publicity as an example of state repression of any dissent. Dr. Sen, as the state General Secretary and national Vice President of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties was and remains one of the most prominent civil rights defenders in the country. In convicting him, the Indian state is convicting democratic rights in the country. It is, as Dr. Sen’s wife Ilina said, a “sad day for Indian democracy”.
This case received international publicity as an example of state repression of any dissent. Dr. Sen, as the state General Secretary and national Vice President of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties was and remains one of the most prominent civil rights defenders in the country. In convicting him, the Indian state is convicting democratic rights in the country. It is, as Dr. Sen’s wife Ilina said, a “sad day for Indian democracy”.
Over the past month the case of the prosecution was given wide publicity, for the blatant falsehoods and preposterous claims made by it. For example, a email message from Ilina Sen to the Indian Social Institute (ISI) in Delhi, a prominent institution working on human rights was claimed by the prosecution as proof of contact with the ISI in Pakistan. This clearly shows the total lack of police
investigation, and in fact, the disregard for all norms of good legal practices exhibited by the Chattisgarh state. It shows the arrogance of a state machinery, secure in the belief that it cannot be held accountable for its actions, and has unchallenged right to take away the liberty of any person it holds as opposed to it. In the context today, when state and big business interests are so closely linked, any form of opposition to big business and capital, particularly by the poorest sections of society, is readily seen as anti-state. The numerous draconian laws against dissent, enacted across the country, are examples of a growing repression by the state of all forces opposed to its policies of “development” – that only increases the displacement and destitution of the poor.
That the judiciary which is supposed to mediate on behalf of those denied justice has today handed out this judgment condemning a defender of human rights. In a situation today when the naked complicity between business interests and the state is being brought out daily, the responsibility of the judiciary to uphold and defend the rights of the people, and in particular defend the rights of human right defenders cannot be overstated. It is this responsibility that has been seriously challenged by the Sessions Courts in Chattisgarh today.
NTUI calls upon the UPA Government to appeal the Raipur Court order in defence of the rights of citizens provided for in the constitution.
NTUI strongly condemns this conviction and will continue the fight to release Dr. Sen.
For more information, contact:
Gautam Mody, Secretary NTUI: +91 7838383758
Rosa Basanti on +91-11-26214538 or +91 9873255780
SIGN THE PETITION FOR BINAYAK SEN HERE :
http://www.petitiononline.com/sen2010/petition.html
Gautam Mody, Secretary NTUI: +91 7838383758
Rosa Basanti on +91-11-26214538 or +91 9873255780
SIGN THE PETITION FOR BINAYAK SEN HERE :
http://www.petitiononline.com/sen2010/petition.html
Outrage for Christmas from Indian Government - Life Imprisonment for India's leading human rights activist Binyak Sen
The Release Binayak Sen committee Pune deprecates the totally unexpectedand unjust verdict of holding Dr. Sen guilty and awarding him the life sentence. This punishment, given without a shred of any incriminating evidence, will erode the credibility of the judicial system and will also in still fear into anyone who legitimately questions the trampling of human rights by the police and other government agencies. Great injustice has beendone, not only to Dr Sen but also to the democratic fabric of this country.
It is very clear that the various allegations against Dr. Sen have beenwidely held as baseless and ridiculous. For example, it was alleged that he was a Naxalite accomplice on the grounds that he met Narayan Sanyal manytimes in Jail. The fact is Dr. Sen met this ailing 70 year old under trial to give him medical advice, to discuss with him the plan of treatment and as PUCL vice president, also to discuss his legal case. The meetings were all in the presence of jail officials. The letter seized from Dr. Sen’s houseand which was produced as an evidence against Dr. Sen was a post card sent by Sanyal to Dr. Sen that had passed thr’ the jail scrutiny and says”Yesterday I talked with Supdt. of police and Jailer and ask them to permit to visit me at least once in a week, and they agreed.—-”
The real ‘crime’ of Binayak Sen is his critique of the ‘Salwa Judum’s violent activities in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. The immediate cause was Binayak and PUCL’s exposure of the gunning down of 12 innocent adivasi youths in Santoshpur village by the Chhattisgarh Police on March 31,2007.
PUCL has been demanding the withdrawal of the Chhattisgarh SpecialPublic Security Act (CSPSA) under which Dr. Sen was charged. Various political parties, peoples’ organisations, journalists’ associations and both national and international human rights organisations have pointed out the unconstitutional and repressive features of this Act. Among its arbitrary and dangerous features are the vague definitions of “illegal” and”unlawful” activities. The definitions are such that even peaceful forms of democratic protest and ordinary civil disobedience can be brought under its purview and declared “unlawful activity” and any protesting group can bedeclared “unlawful”.
The real ‘crime’ of Binayak Sen is his critique of the ‘Salwa Judum’s violent activities in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. The immediate cause was Binayak and PUCL’s exposure of the gunning down of 12 innocent adivasi youths in Santoshpur village by the Chhattisgarh Police on March 31,2007.
PUCL has been demanding the withdrawal of the Chhattisgarh SpecialPublic Security Act (CSPSA) under which Dr. Sen was charged. Various political parties, peoples’ organisations, journalists’ associations and both national and international human rights organisations have pointed out the unconstitutional and repressive features of this Act. Among its arbitrary and dangerous features are the vague definitions of “illegal” and”unlawful” activities. The definitions are such that even peaceful forms of democratic protest and ordinary civil disobedience can be brought under its purview and declared “unlawful activity” and any protesting group can bedeclared “unlawful”.
We demand that justice be done to Dr. Sen, Indian Judicial system and to Indian Democracy.
Release Dr. Binayak Sen Committee’- Pune
Abhay Shukla Neeraj Jain, Dr. Anant Phadke Suhas Kolhekar
( 9422317515) (9422220311) (9423531478) (9422986771)
Milind Chavan Suniti. R.R,
(9890025565) (9423571784)
SIGN THE PETITION FOR BINAYAK SEN HERE:
http://www.petitiononline.com/sen2010/petition.html
Abhay Shukla Neeraj Jain, Dr. Anant Phadke Suhas Kolhekar
( 9422317515) (9422220311) (9423531478) (9422986771)
Milind Chavan Suniti. R.R,
(9890025565) (9423571784)
SIGN THE PETITION FOR BINAYAK SEN HERE:
http://www.petitiononline.com/sen2010/petition.html
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