Sen sentence flayed

The protest, held under the banner of 'Free Binayak Sen', urged the Government to drop the charges against Dr Sen. Criticising the ruling of the Raipur Sessions Court which recently found Dr Sen 'guilty' of helping the Naxalites and charged him with links to a banned outfit, the protesters reiterated that the allegations were 'politically motivated' and based on 'bogus' evidence.

The agitators maintained that the conviction of Dr Sen was a 'vindictive' response to his work as a civil rights campaigner in exposing the 'nexus' between the Salwa Judum militia and the Chhattisgarh government.

The protest was jointly organised by the Alternative Law Forum, the Amnesty International, the Bangalore Janara Vedike, the Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka, Jana Sahayoga, Janasthra, the National Alliance for People's Movements, the People's Democratic Forum, the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Sangama, the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), Vimochana.  

In the words of Justice Michael F Saldanha, former judge of the Karnataka High Court: “It is not a judgment but an atrocity of the worst order.” Kannada litterateur U R Ananthmurthy said: “Dr Binayak Sen represents me too.”

Veerabhadra Channamalla Swami of Nidumamidi Mutt described the verdict as 'undemocratic' and an 'assault' on justice. The AITUC termed it as 'judicial terrorism'.