JOIN USBinayak calls for end to police repression
Dr Sen, who was released on bail by the Supreme Court early this week, reiterated he had no links with the Maoists as suspected by the Chattisgarh administration.
“I have no links with the Maoists; my only concern is the restoration of human rights in the critical healthcare sector. Therefore, I feel there should be an end to the Maoist violence and on the other hand, police must stop oppressing innocent tribal people for suspicion of being in league with the Maoists,” Sen told a crowded news conference here at the Kolkata Press Club.
Even as his wife Illina pleaded with reporters for not shooting any queries on the charges that had been slapped on him by the Chattisgarh government, as the case was still subjudice, Sen took pains to point out the areas where he had worked to provide basic healthcare.
He said, the Maoist ultras were not active in places where he had visited to investigate the alleged human rights violations. “At one point of time, I’d even got the support of the Chattisgarh administration when Ajit Jogi was the chief minister, in spreading awareness about healthcare facilities,” he argued.
Asked about his experience in jail, Sen conceded that two years of imprisonment had told upon his health and said once inside the jail, the “revelations were just horrifying”.
Citing an instance, he said the jail prominently displayed a saying of Mahatma Gandhi— “Hate the crime, not the criminal”. But inside, the situation is just obverse, he said.
However, he did not face any ill treatment, and there was no dearth of medicine for him, Sen admitted.