Outrage over PUCL activist's arrest
NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 (Raipur)
There is a growing sense of outrage over the arrest of civil rights activist Binayak Sen in Chhattisgarh on unsubstantiated charges of supporting Naxals.
Sen, a pediatrician who has worked in the Naxal-hit villages of Chhattisgarh for many years, was arrested on Monday and sent to Raipur central jail.
The police claim his meetings with jailed Naxal leader Narayan Sanyal prove his links with the rebels.
But Sen argues that both visits were under police supervision.
''I was not doing anything secret. Whatever I did was in the cause of human rights and not to further the interests of CPI (Maoists),'' he added.
Earlier in the day, a delegation met with Home Minster Shivraj Patil to urge him to intercede on behalf of Sen and ask the Chhattisgarh government to take back cases against him.
The minister told the group that it was a state issue and asked Sen's well-wishers to approach the National Human Right Commission.
The Christian Medical College in Vellore, where Sen studied medicine, has started a signature campaign for his release.
Active campaigner
Sen has been involved in developing a low cost health programme for tribals.
As a member of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), he has been a vocal critic of the anti-Naxal Salwa Judum movement.
He was also at the forefront of a campaign to highlight an alleged fake encounter in Dantewada a fortnight ago in which eight people were killed and four are still missing.
A recent PUCL report details 13 fake encounters in Sarbhuja district over the last year.
According to the human rights group, Sen was arrested mainly because of the campaign against fake encounters.
The PUCL believes several activists like Sen have been targetted for questioning the Salwa Judum and branded as Naxal sympathisers.
4 comments:
As they usually say, why dont we say now "Let the law take its own course"
Apart from these blatant anti-india naxal sympathizers there are severel "academics" around indian universities gaining lots of money from Indian government and in the back ground acting as sympathizers to anti-nationals and giving them moral support.
It is pathetic that Indian state is resorting to such reprehensible means as arresting people doing service to and fighting for the cause of poor & down-trodden to cover-up its crimes. Hardly a surprise given the nature and content of the present ruling class in India. BJP and Congress are hand in glove in this matter.
Sankar your support of the oppressive Indian state is reprehensible. Let the law take it's own course indeed, much as it has in Gujarat after the riots. It seems that the true terrorists in this country are getting re-elected.
Decolonize...whatever... so u found one more forum to invoke gujarat! so may we ask u about nandigram? the people of gujarat have voted in a 100% democratic election process, for 3 times now. but u dont accept that. somehow u think u r above the people of gujarat, their mandate and their basic democratic right of electing who they want. how so communist of u!
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