CNN-IBN: Arundhati Roy on Binayak’s release

source

‘Little pinholes of light have come out in this judgement’ says author and activist Arundhati Roy on the Binayak Sen bail order by the Supreme Court. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN’s Rupashree Nanda, she also says ‘democracy is on a very slippery slope in Chhattisgarh’; that it is important to remember several others who are jailed under similar charges under ‘undemocratic laws’.

Rupashree Nanda: I remember you’d said that the judgement of the Raipur session court was intended to be a message, as a warning to others. What is the message of the Supreme Court bail order?

Arundhati Roy: I think that the Supreme Court granting him bail and the comments that were made in court do suggest that somewhere the Supreme Court is of the mind that it was a vindictive judgment and that he does deserve the benefit of the doubt. And so they gave him bail. What happens is that it underlines the fact that he was being made an example of; and the terror that reigns in Chhattisgarh remains so. Because, how many people have those lawyers? And have the ability to come to the Supreme Court? How many people are there poor, unnamed and named, under the very same laws for even less reasons? But they cannot come up and get bail. In some ways, it is a very necessary thing that has happened today. And in other ways it is worrying because we have so many people who don’t have access to the Supreme Court.

Rupashree Nanda: The battle for acquittal is still on. What if he is convicted again and sentenced again?

Arundhati Roy: My answer is the same. The fact is that here was a very well known person. He had a campaign behind him, he had so many people, so many lawyers and so he was allowed to approach an institution where some kind of reason prevailed. But most people don’t have that approach. So, here you are once again in a situation where there is hope for democracy, reason for those who can afford it, who can reach there. But most people cannot. Really what we need to do is look at these laws again. And again, even if the laws were OK you have this vindictive set of people who are doing something, it does not matter what the law is. They are busy trying to intimidate a whole population of very poor people now who are living on the resources that the multinationals want.

Rupashree Nanda: Was it easy for people to come out and support Dr Binayak Sen because there were many people against him?

Arundhati Roy: It is not a question of easy or difficult. Fortunately, in this country we do have a huge number of fearless people who believe in doing the right thing or at least believe in doing what they believe in. I am not going to complain about how difficult it was for us. Of course, I think, all those who protested knew that they were up against it. I know about Kopa Kunjam who took me round Bastar who is in jail. Who is campaigning for him? Who are his lawyers? What is going to happen to him? There are hundreds of people in jail in Orissa, in Chhattisgarh, in Bengal who do not have names suffering under the same laws. We really need to do something about them. I am saying this at a time when I don’t want to minimize how reassuring it is that the Supreme Court came out with this order that it did today. Because, had it not done that, all the windows would have been shut. Again, justice for those who can afford it, democracy for those who can afford it but what about everybody else?

Rupashree Nanda: What is the message for the government? Is it listening to the courts, is it listening to the people?

Arundhati Roy: There is something rotten in the institutions of Chhattisgarh. All the institutions there are behind that rot and behind what is now NOT being called Operation Green Hunt, but IS Operation Green hunt. We have a situation where the army is likely to be deployed, we have requests for the AFSPA [Armed Forces Special Powers Act]. We know what that has done in other states in India. Really democracy is on a very slippery slope there in Chhattisgarh. Now, some little pin holes of light have come out in this judgment. – but the point is that we are in a situation where we are creating a state where we call ourselves a democracy but increasingly there are laws that are undemocratic. In fact, under the UAPA [Unlawful Activities Prevention Act], the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act – you don’t have to prove anything to put people in jail. Just thinking an anti – government thought is a criminal offense. So look at those laws. It is not that they are being misinterpreted. They are being used precisely for the purpose they were made. So the fact is again and again I am saying we have a majority of our population that does not have access to the institution of justice.

Rupashree Nanda: What does Binayak Sen represent?

Arundhati Roy: Different things to different people. To me he symbolizes somebody who stood up and blew the whistle on the Salwa Judum. And that is why there was this vindictive action against him as a warning. And even though he has been let out on bail, let’s not forget that he has suffered. He’s been in jail. His hospital has been closed down. He cannot work in that area. He has been driven out of the state. So, in many ways, what they wanted, they have achieved already. To others he symbolizes righteousness. It can cut both ways. You can also now use Binayak Sen to say, look, India is a democracy – he was released. You can use him to say – look he is a middle-class person who had a campaign behind him. He was released, but there are many others. So it is different things to different people depending on how you look at it.

Rupashree Nanda: No one talks about Piyush Guha today?

Arundhati Roy: You talk about one person and then you keep everybody else in the dark. It’s like during Thanksgiving the American president pardons one turkey and then they slaughter millions. Behind the place where you choose to shine the light you have so much darkness. Piyush Guha has a name. Kopa Kunjam has a name, but there are hundreds of others who don’t have names, who are in prison. I remember going to Orissa meeting one adivasi woman shaking like a leaf in jail. What are the charges? Sedition. Waging war against the state. Trying to erect a parallel government. So we are living in an era where these people are ferociously attacked. So we have to look at the whole picture not just where people wish us to look because they have shone the light there.

My son may not get bail due to conspiracy: Binayak’s mother Read more: My son may not get bail due to conspiracy: Binayak’s mother – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/My-son-may-not-get-bail-due-to-conspiracy-Binayaks-mother/articleshow/7341873.cms#ixzz1BlfDrxft

Source TOI
KALYANI (WB): The mother of physician Binayak Sen, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Chhattisgarh for sedition, alleged there is a conspiracy by a section of powerful people to foil any possibility of her son getting bail.

“I fear my son will not be granted bail by the Chhattisgarh High Court on January 24 as some powerful people are a hatching conspiracy to influence the judiciary,” 84-year-old ailing Anashua Sen said here.

“I’ll, however, fight for his release till the last drop of my blood and up to my last breath. If nothing positive comes out, I’ll move the Supreme Court and write to the President and the prime minister,” she said.

“I’ll also try to mobilise people for a strong campaign against the injustice done to Binayak,” she said.

She alleged that his son has been kept in solitary confinement to create mental pressure on him. Barring his wife and daughter, none is allowed to meet him in jail, she said.

On December 24 last year, Additional Sessions Judge B P Verma in Raipur convicted 61-year-old Sen, vice-president of People’s Union of Civil Liberties, for sedition and sentenced to life imprisonment along with Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha for colluding with Maoists.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE – Serving people is not conspiracy! Supporting people’s struggles can never be sedition!!

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

December 24, 2010

Serving people is not conspiracy!
Supporting people’s struggles can never be sedition!!

The Scamsters who amass billions of rupees are the real conspirators!

The Gangsters who sell-out our country to imperialists are the real traitors!!

Observe Protest Week from January 2^nd to 8^th, 2011 against the fascist Chhattisgarh government’s court judgments that sentenced Civil Rights activist Doctor Binayak Sen,
Maoist leader Narayana Sanyal, trader Piyush Guha under sedition for life imprisonment and magazine editor Asit Sengupta for eight years imprisonment!

On December 24, the Raipur district additional sessions court sentenced for life civil rights activist Dr. Binayak Sen, our party Politburo member Comrade Narayan Sanyal, trader Piyush Guha under IPC, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and UAPA implicating them in false cases. The life sentences were pronounced by B.P. Verma under IPC section 124 (sedition), 120 B (conspiracy) and many other kinds of sentences were pronounced under various sections of CSPCA and UAPA. The eight year sentence for Asit Sengupta was pronounced on the same day by O.P. Gupta. Both these judgments are the latest additions to the huge cache of anti-people, fascist repressive measures of the Indian ruling classes.

Sentencing for life our party Politburo member Comrade Narayan Sanyal, Binayak Sen, a doctor who had dedicated his life as a doctor serving the poor people selflessly, a prominent civil rights activist and the vice-president of PUCL and Piyush Guha, a trader belonging to Kolkata is the most shameless thing for the rulers to do even while boasting that this is the biggest democracy in the whole world. Opposing the repressive policies of the government, the fascist Salwa Judum, raising his voice for the repeal of the black law CSPSA and standing in support of the just peoples movements are the `crimes’ committed by Dr. Binayak Sen for which he has been punished with life sentence. When he was arrested in May 2007 and kept in jail for two years, immense protests were held and severe condemnations were issued by democratic sections, medical community, Nobel laureates and many others in India and abroad. Pronouncing this sentence ignoring all this can only mean that the fascist rulers are without any scruples or embarrassment issuing a threat to all the democratic, progressive and patriotic sections of our country. If responding positively towards people’s issues in a legal, democratic manner, serving the people sincerely and criticizing the anti-people policies of the government is `sedition’, then one can imagine what kind of `democracy’ is being practiced in this country and how dangerous it is for the people. The eight year sentence for Asit Sengupta (editor of the Hindi version of ‘A World To Win’ which is published in various languages all over the world) who is languishing in jail since three years with the false accusation that he was participating in Maoist activities is nothing but stifling the Freedom of Press. Recently, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, DGP Viswaranjan, Bastar IG Longkumer and Dantewada SP Kalluri gang had published pamphlets under the name `Maa Danteswari Adivasi Swabhimani Manch’ and had openly declared that they would kill journalists SRK Pillai, Anil Sharma and Yaswant Rai along with democrats Himanshu Kumar and Arundhati Roy and had the audacity to declare that it is indeed their own doing! So much for the `rule of law’ harped upon by our rulers day in and day out!

Comrade Narayan Sanyal, a 73-year old veteran communist who began his revolutionary life in 1968 and has dedicated more than four decades of his life for the liberation of the oppressed people, is ailing with various health problems and has been languishing in the dark dungeons of the fascist Chhattisgarh government since five years. The Sonia-Manmohan-Chidambaram-Raman Singh terrorist gang is killing Maoist leaders in fake encounters and sentencing many of them to harsh punishments under black laws. They are subjected to physical and mental tortures in the inhuman conditions prevailing in jails.

On July 29, 2010, our party activist Comrade Malati @ Santi Priya and a worker Surendra Kosaria were sentenced to ten years imprisonment using false witnesses under the case that Maoist propaganda CDs were sent to the MLAs. Amitabh Bagchi, a Politburo member of our party and Comrade Kartik, a state committee member of West Bengal, incarcerated in Ranchi jail, were also sentenced to life imprisonment through fast track court in Jharkhand. On October 29, the AP government sentenced Comrade Panduranga Reddy and three others to four years imprisonment in the Alipiri case (attack on ex-CM Chandrababu) using false witnesses. Many more revolutionary activists and ordinary people are being sentenced to very harsh punishments including capital punishment by the reactionary courts serving the exploiting ruling classes. Comrades Sushil Roy and Kobad Gandhi who are senior leaders and ailing with various health problems and old age; comrades Shobha, Patitpavan Haldar, Pramod Mishra, Vijay, Asutosh, Balraj, Chintan, Biman, Bidhan, Chandi Sarkar, Balganesh, Jharkhand Abhen’s Jeetan Marandi and thousands of other comrades are denied bail, being implicated in false cases one after another and made to languish in jails for years together. In West Bengal, Comrade Swapan Das arrested under UAPA was denied health care in Jail and became the first martyr of this draconian law.

The UPA government bent on selling our natural and human resources to imperialist MNCs like Vedanta and to comprador bourgeoisie like Tata, Essar, Jindal, Mittal etc has declared CPI (Maoist) as the biggest internal security threat as it is standing in their way offering stiff resistance to this unlimited loot. As part of this, the government is carrying on vicious foul propaganda using its propaganda machine. Since August 2009, in the name of Operation Green Hunt the central and state governments are resorting to brutal attacks on the revolutionary movement and particularly adivasis are being massacred by deploying millions of police and paramilitary forces in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and other states. This offensive is carried on under the guidance and full support of imperialists, particularly the US imperialists. The exploiting rulers are using every means at their disposal to portray our party which is fighting with the lofty aim of establishing people’s government of democratic classes basing on the unity of worker-peasants by overthrowing the imperialists, bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie and the feudal classes, as `terrorist’ and `traitor’.  Why are the ministers, political leaders, big bourgeoisie and their brokers, the real traitors who are amassing billions of rupees in scams and stacking them in Swiss Banks shamelessly roaming in the corridors of power not booked under SEDITION? Why are all those criminals who perpetrated and facilitated the Bhopal Gas Tragedy not called CONSPIRATORS? How could striving for the liberation of the toiling masses become SEDITION? How could democrats who raised their voices and pens in support of people’s movements be called CONSPIRATORS?

These sentences are nothing but a part of the bigger conspiracy of the ruling classes to eliminate all kinds of hurdles to their anti-people, unpatriotic and immoral neo-liberal economic policies. This is an alarm signal that fascist repression would intensify further in the near future. These judgments are an eye opener for those who believe and get deceived innocently that there is still some semblance of democracy in this country. Though the overt statements of the ruling gang declare that Maoist movement is their prime target, what is happening in reality is a fascist onslaught on progressive and democratic forces who wish for the welfare of the people and aspire to protect the interests of our country vis-à-vis the imperialists. Our party is appealing to the people to stand united against this offensive and defeat it through a determined fight.

The comprador governments are resorting to suppression of people’s movements and nationality liberation struggles using black laws like UAPA, CSPCA, MCOCA and AFSPA following in the footsteps of the US government which promulgated black laws like the Homeland Security Act. The reactionary legal system which had never bothered to book or sentence the saffron terrorists who had killed many innocent people in the Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Ajmer Sharif bomb blasts or the scamsters and political gangsters involved in scams like 2G Spectrum (worth 1,76,000 crores of rupees), Commonwealth games, Adarsh housing society, Karnataka lands and dozens and dozens of other scams are eagerly sentencing revolutionaries, people’s leaders, democrats and activists of national liberation movements in Kashmir and North-East.

The CPI (Maoist) Central Committee is appealing to all democratic, patriotic forces, national liberation activists and to all civil rights activists, organizations, students, intellectuals, teachers, writers, artistes, doctors, lawyers, media friends, workers and peasants to come out on the streets condemning and opposing these judgments delivered through the reactionary legal system by the collusion of the UPA government at the centre and the BJP government in Chhattisgarh. We appeal to all of you to build united and militant agitations demanding the immediate repeal of UAPA, CSPCA, MCOCA and AFSPA. We appeal to all the progressive, democratic and revolutionary organizations, communities and individuals of various countries to condemn in severe terms this criminal act of the Indian ruling classes and express their vigorous protest in various democratic struggle forms. In the past the international community stood in strong solidarity with the Indian people’s movements and had condemned the arrest of Binayak Sen and demanded his immediate release. Now the time has come for it to play this role more solidly.

Our party calls upon the people to observe protest week all over the country from January 2 to 8 against these judgments by creatively taking up various protest activities including press conferences, statements, dharnas, rasta rokos, meetings, protest rallies, processions, signature campaigns, wearing black badges, waving black flags, burning of effigies etc., and to take up legal battles condemning severely the anti-people, traitorous and fascist policies of the ruling classes.

Our party is calling upon all our ranks, PLGA forces and revolutionary mass organizations to take up various protest forms on this occasion by mobilizing vast masses.

Our Central Committee is making it very clear that no call for bandh is being given as part of this protest week and is requesting the people and media not to believe the deliberate propaganda of the police to portray this as a bandh call.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)

Dr Binayak Sen’s Statement to the Court

ICAWPI

I am a trained medical doctor with a specialization in child health. I completed my MBBS from the Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1972, and completed studies leading to the award of the degree of MD (Paediatrics) of the Madras University, from the same institution in 1976. After this, I joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and worked there for two years, before leaving to join a field based health programme at the Friends Rural Centre, Rasulia in Hoshangabad, MP. During the two years I worked there, I worked intensively in the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis and understood many of the social and economic causes of disease. I was also strongly influenced by the work of Marjorie Sykes, the biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, who lived at the Rasulia centre at that time.

I came to Chhattisgarh in 1981 and worked upto 1987 at Dalli Rajhara (district Durg), where, along with the late Shri Shankar Guha Niyogi and the workers of the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh, I helped to establish the Shaheed Hospital, that continues to practice low cost and rational medicine for the adivasis and working people of the surrounding areas upto the present. After leaving Dalli Rajhara, I worked to develop a health programme among the Adivasi population in and around village Bagrumnala, which today is in Dhamtari district.

This work depended on a large group of village based health workers who were trained and guided by me. When the new state of Chhattisgarh was formed, I was appointed a member of the advisory group on Health Care Sector reforms, and helped to develop the Mitanin programme, which in turn, became the role model for the ASHA of the National Rural Health Mission. A copy of the Order of the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the Govt. of Chhattisgarh regarding my nomination to the advisory group mentioned above is attached. (Annexure 1.)

My work in the area of community health, as well as my work on Human Rights which is detailed below, has been nationally and internationally recognized. I have been awarded the Paul Harrison Award by the CMC Vellore in 2004; the RR Keithan Gold medal by the Indian Academy of Social Sciences in 2007; and have received the Jonathan Mann award for Health and Human rights from the Global Health Council in 2008. I am attaching notarized copies of the citations of these awards with this statement, and am carrying the originals for the perusal of the court. (Annexures 2, 3, 4 and 5)

I have been a member of the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) since 1981. The PUCL is an organization devoted to the preservation of constitutional civil liberties and human rights that was founded by the late Shri Jayprakash Narayan during the years of the Emergency. In Chhattisgarh, as well as in many other parts of the country, the PUCL led the campaign for the preservation of the freedom of speech, prevention of custodial violence, and for the public accountability of the police. I became General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh unit of the PUCL in 2004, and am currently the President of the State unit, and Vice President of its National body.

In Chhattisgarh, the PUCL has been in the forefront of exposing the atrocities of the police. Atrocities by men in uniform against vulnerable sections continue to be a serious problem in the state, as the front page news item in the “Sunday Times” dated 12th September 2010, annexed hereto as Annexure 6 shows. In this situation PUCL’s efforts were always directed towards the establishment of good governance and constitutional values. PUCL findings and investigations were always made available in the public domain through press releases and its own publications. One such Press Release reporting investigation into police atrocities in Village Jiramtarai, Thana Koylibeda is annexed hereto as Annexure 7. The report of one such investigation pertaining to police atrocities in Katgaon (Kanker district) was published in the “Navbharat” and “Deshbandhu” newspapers which are annexed hereto as Annexure 8and 9 respectively. A PUCL publication on the State of Human Rights in Chhattisgarh is appended to this statement. (Annexure 10). In this connection PUCL regularly corresponded with the National and State Human Rights Commissions. Copies of some of the letters sent to the PUCL by the National Human Rights Commission (collectively) and the State Human Rights Commission are attached to this statement. (Annexure 11 and 12)

Apart from investigating and documenting many cases of Human Rights abuse involving the police, the PUCL has acted as a whistleblower in the matter of exposing the true nature of the Salwa Judum. The Salwa Judum, which began in the Dantewada district in 2005, has been represented by the state government as a spontaneous peoples’ movement against the Maoists active in the area. However, an investigation led by the PUCL and involving several other Human Rights organizations revealed that it was in reality a state sponsored and state funded as well as completely unaccountable vigilante force, to which arms were provided by the government. The activities of the Salwa Judum have led to the emptying of more than 600 villages, and the forced displacement of over 60,000 people. Concerns regarding the activities of the Salwa Judum have been expressed by several independent organizations including the National Human Rights Commission. International organizations like the UNICEF have also voiced serious concern and have invited me to dialogue with them about the restoration of normalcy in the region affected by Salwa Judum. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has also, on several occasions, expressed its grave concern over the activities of the Salwa Judum and the deployment of armed vigilantes for the promotion of state policy. This has been widely reported in the press. A Table with an indicative list of agencies that have made critical observations on the Salwa Judum is attached (Annexure 13). A copy of the report on the Salwa Judum by the Chhattisgarh PUCL and other organizations (Annexure 14), and copies of the investigation reports on the Salwa Judum brought out by the Independent Citizens Initiative and Asian Centre for Human Rights are being filed along with this statement (Annexure 15 and 16 respectively). An invitation from the UNICEF, Chhattisgarh Regional Office to participate in a dialogue to seek a resolution to the crisis in Dantewada as a fallout of the Salwa Judum is similarly attached to my statement (Annexure 17).Press reports in the Hitavada, dated 23.10.2010 pertaining to the Hon. Supreme Court’s critical observations are attached (Annexure no 29), as are Certified copies of Supreme Court orders that make critical observations on the Salwa Judum are also being attached (Annexure 18)

The PUCL has also, during 2006, organized two major conventions, opposing the proposal to enact the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, because it has been, and continues to be, our view that this Act contravenes the civil liberties assured to us in the constitution. I have expressed these views in the Press as well, and am attaching with this submission a copy of newspaper carrying a press report of such a convention (Annexure 19), as well as a copy of the newspaper “Chhattisgarh” dated 30th March 2006 in which my interview appears in this regard. (Annexure 20) A Civil Writ Petition (Writ Petition No 2163/2009) challenging the vires of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act has been filed by the PUCL in the Chhattisgarh High Court. Certified copies of the Court orders admitting this petition and issuing notice are being filed along with this statement (Annexure 21).

For all the reasons mentioned above, the Chhattisgarh police and the state government have harboured a grudge against me, and the then DGP of Chhattisgarh, Mr OP Rathore, has gone on record threatening to take action against the PUCL and its office bearers. Copies of a newspaper of 3rd January 2006 carrying a report to this effect are attached to my statement. (Annexure 22)

I have been concerned with the rights of prisoners in my capacity as a Human Rights worker and was approached by the family of Mr Narayan Sanyal to look after his health and well being after he was brought to Raipur jail in 2006. My first visit to him in jail was in the company of his family and lawyer. Subsequently, I obtained permission from the police authorities for visiting him in jail, and visited him several times, each time applying to do so in my capacity as a PUCL office bearer. After my visits, I informed his family members about his condition over the telephone. During the course of these visits, it was brought to my notice that the surgery on his hands that was necessary for medical purposes, was being delayed due to communication problems between the jail and the doctors in the Raipur Medical College. I played a role in facilitating his surgery and kept his family informed about the process. During this period there was considerable correspondence between the prisoner’s family, jail administration and medical authorities, of which copies were marked to me. I attach along with this statement copies of the letter written by Mr Radha Madhav Sanyal (brother of Narayan Sanyal) to the Jail Superintendent with a copy to me (Annexure 23); copies of my applications to visit Mr Narayan Sanyal in jail which were obtained through an application under the RTI (Annexure 24); copy of the written permission given to me by Shri BS Maravi, Senior Superintendent of Police, Raipur (Annexure 25) and copies of the correspondence from the Jail authorities to the medical doctors mentioned above with copies marked to me (Annexure 26).

It was with similar concern for the situation of prisoners that I acted upon the letter received in the post from one Madanlal Barkhade about prison conditions in the Raipur Central Jail. I released his letter to the press in Raipur and attach the newspaper in which the aforesaid letter was published. (Annexure 27)

The documents seized from my house during the house search on 19.5.2007 were those of concern to me in the ordinary and transparent conduct of my work. Human rights organizations from all over the country used to send me books, pamphlets and documents, and there were thousands of these lying in my residence, which I also used as my office. None of the seized documents had been secretly or clandestinely obtained. Document No. A 19 was sent to me by post by Shri Govindan Kutty, Editor, Peoples’ March. Document no A 20, purported to be written by Madanlal Barkhade was similarly received by me in the regular post. The document A 21 was sent to me by Dr Kalpana Kannabiran, one of the authors of the article, then Professor at the National Law School Hyderabad, by e-mail. Article A 22, photocopy of a hand written document, and Articles A 23 and A 36 were available for distribution at a seminar on the Salwa Judum organized by the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi in January, 2007, to which I was invited , and were picked up by me there. Article A 24 was received by me in the post. Newspaper clippings A 25 to A 35 are newspaper clippings that I had maintained in furtherance of my interest in the emerging situation in Chhattisgarh.

Several policemen in the search party were involved in the process of the search at my house. Having found a document, the person finding it would hand it over to Mr Rajput. Mr Rajput would first read it, and then hand it over to me for my signature. He would also sign it himself. After we had both put our signatures on the document, he would dictate to TI Jagrit what was to be written in the seizure memo. Mr Jagrit would then make the entry, following which Mr Rajput would then hand over the document to Mr Jagrit. In this manner, each document was seized, signed, and entered in the seizure memo. None of the documents were signed by the public witnesses in my presence. Nor were the documents sealed in my presence. At the end of the search process the documents were carried away in a paper bag in an unsealed condition. Document A37 was never received by me to sign. It was not in my office, and was not seized during the search. It was fabricated after the search by the police to implicate me falsely.

When the challan in my case was filed, my advocate, Mr Amit Banerjee was present in court and received the chargesheet on my behalf. A copy of the chargesheet is annexed hereto as Annexure 28. Upon going through the charegesheet, we noticed that in the copies of articles A 19 to A 24, the signatures of the panch witnesses were not present in the documents. Copies of articles A 25 to A 37 were not supplied to us at the time. Despite a court order, the contents of the computer were copied onto DVDs without the presence of my advocate, and only DVDs of selected material from the computer were supplied later during the course of the trial. Out of the DVDs supplied, three relate to investigation of police atrocities / fake encounters in Golapally, Jiramtarai and Katgaon. My images on these tapes are in conversation with the villagers who are affected by these atrocities.

I have never seen Deepak Chaubey (PW7) until the time he testified in the court. I did not introduce Narayan Sanyal to him and his story that Narayan Sanyal was arrested from his house is patently untrue as, in fact, Sanyal was arrested in Bhadrachalam.

I submit that my prosecution is malafide; in fact it is a persecution. I am being made an example of by the state government of Chhattisgarh as a warning to others not to expose the patent trampling of human rights taking place in the state. Documents have been fabricated by the police and false witnesses introduced in order to falsely implicate me.

Binayak Sen.

Narayan Sanyal arrest, charges a weak link in Binayak Sen case

source – hindu

Raipur: Narayan Sanyal is a 74-year-old man with white hair parted to one side and fibromatosis in both hands. His arrest memo notes that he wears dentures, has spots on his body and smokes cigarettes. “My health is not going well, arthritis is a new thing catching up, age is telling,” he writes in a letter addressed to a ‘Dear friend V’. This letter and two others became crucial evidence in the conviction last week of Mr. Sanyal, Kolkata businessman Pijush Guha and eminent doctor and human rights activist Binayak Sen.
Behind their conviction lies a curious paradox to which Chhattisgarh Police have never given a satisfactory answer: Why was Mr. Sanyal — whose Maoist connections led to charges against the co-accused in the first place — himself never charged with sedition or conspiracy to wage war or even with belonging to or supporting an unlawful organisation until well after Dr. Sen’s arrest under those serious offences?
On December 24, Justice B. P. Verma of Raipur’s Additional District and Sessions Court held that Mr. Sanyal was the key figure in a criminal conspiracy to commit sedition along with Mr. Guha and Dr. Sen and sentenced all three to life imprisonment. Mr. Sanyal was sentenced to an additional 10 years for belonging to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The Judge held that Mr. Sanyal wrote three letters (including the one mentioned above) and passed them on to Dr. Sen, who gave them to Mr. Guha. Apart from ruminations on Mr. Sanyal’s health, the letters castigate an unnamed associate for failing to maintain regular contact, congratulate others for completing the ninth congress and urge the reader to concentrate on propaganda as “propaganda is overwhelming people. They are able to influence conceptions and thinking, knowing that they are corrupt and anti-people”.
Mr. Sanyal is frequently described as a “Maoist ideologue” in newspapers and is believed to have joined Charu Mazumdar’s CPI (Marxist-Leninist) in the late 1960s. However, the police have struggled to pin him down on any specific charges until this most recent case.
It is known that Dr. Sen visited Mr. Sanyal 33 times in the Raipur Central Jail in his capacity as a doctor and Chhattisgarh Secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties. But why was Mr. Sanyal imprisoned at all?
On December 27, The Hindu reported on the mysterious circumstances around Mr. Guha’s arrest. Now witness testimonies in the Binayak Sen case also suggest that the Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh police colluded to arrest and illegally detain Mr. Sanyal.
In the Binayak Sen case, the prosecution sought to establish an acquaintance between Dr. Sen and Mr. Sanyal prior to the latter’s arrest. Prosecution witness Deepak Choubey testified that he rented out his father-in-law’s house in 2005 at Daulat Estate, Dangiya, in Raipur to Mr. Sanyal at the behest of Dr. Sen for Rs.1,500 a month. But then he also went on to say something which was at odds with the official narrative. “In January 2006, I went to collect the rent when my neighbour told me that my house was raided by the Andhra Pradesh Police who arrested Mr. Sanyal,” said Mr. Choubey.
On January 2, 2006, Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar carried a story dated Jan. 1 under the headline “Prominent Naxali leader held in Dangiya?” The story did not offer any sources but claimed that a joint police team from A.P. and Chhattisgarh raided a house in Daulat Estate, Dangiya, and arrested Comrade Prasad alias Vijay, a politburo member of the banned CPI (Maoist), who had come to Raipur for medical treatment. The report stated that the A.P. Police team had arrived in Raipur on December 28, 2005.
The same day, Mr. Sanyal’s brother Radhamadhab Mohan filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bilaspur High Court alleging that his brother had been arrested by the A.P. Police on December 28, 2005, when he came to Raipur to seek medical treatment. In Delhi, the People’s Union for Democratic Rights issued a press release about the arrest and The Hindu carried a news item to this effect on December 30, 2005.
In their submission dated January 6, 2006, the Chhattisgarh Police denied any knowledge of Mr. Sanyal’s whereabouts and denied that he had been arrested in Raipur. In a fax message dated January 5, 2006, the A.P. Police claimed that Mr. Sanyal alias N. Prasad alias Vijay had been arrested on January 3 that year at the Bhadrachalam bus stand in A.P.’s Khamam district, found to be in possession of a 9-mm pistol and six live cartridges, and arrested under the Arms Act.
The police did not produce a charge sheet and so, after 90 days of custody, Mr. Sanyal was released on statutory bail on April 4, 2006, from Bhadrachalam, only to be arrested 70 km away at Konta in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on April 7, 2006, and charged with the murder of one Hungaram Markam in 2005. Soon after, Mr. Sanyal was shifted to Raipur, where he has been since.
“Every witness has turned hostile in the Konta case,” said Mr. Hashim Khan, Mr. Sanyal’s lawyer. “The only person left to be examined is Investigating Officer Vijay Thakur, who has refused to appear in court for three years and so the case drags on.” In 2008, Dr. Sen’s lawyers filed a bail petition in the Supreme Court in which they pointed out that while Dr. Sen had been accused of aiding the banned CPI (Maoist), Mr. Sanyal had been arrested for murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and was not even charged with any Maoist-related crimes under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, or the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.
Soon after the bail application was filed, additional charges were slapped on to Mr. Sanyal’s case. “The police know that they can’t keep Sanyal in jail using the Konta case,” said Mr. Khan, “so they have manufactured the Binayak Sen case to ensure that he remains behind bars.”

Maoists condemn life sentence for Binayak Sen

source – DNA

Condemning the life sentence given to rights activist Binayak Sen by a Raipur court, the Maoists today warned the Central government of more attacks in the coming year.
“The life imprisonment of Binayak Sen shows the real face of the Indian government. If Binayak Sen is charged with treason then all citizens should be charged with it,” a letter undersigned by Maoist spokesperson Bikram said.
Taking responsibility for the killing of seven Forward Block supporters ten days ago and a COBRA personnal in Purulia district, the letter said, “This is our answer to Operation Greenhunt. We take the full responsibility for the killings.”
The letter warned that if the anti-Maoist operations were not withdrawn, “there will be more deadly attacks in 2011 and the government should be prepared to take responsibility for it.”
It also slammed Left Front partner Forward Bloc, saying that the party has become fascist.
“Our battle with them will continue,” the letter stated.

Amnesty condemns Binayak Sen’s conviction, asks government to intervene

Amnesty International today described human rights activist Binayak Sen as a prisoner of conscience and flayed his conviction by a Chhatisgarh court, saying it violated international standards of fair trial.

The prison term awarded to Sen has evoked outrage among social activists in India and warned that the politically-motivated charges could enflame tensions in the country’s conflict-hit areas.

The international rights body appealed to the Indian government to revoke the charges against him and set him free immediately.

Sen, along with Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha were yesterday found guilty by a district court of sedition and sentenced to life imprisonment for colluding with Maoists in establish a network to fight the state.

Reacting to the verdict that has also shocked many in India, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi said: “Life in prison is an unusually harsh sentence for anyone, much less for an internationally recognised human rights defender who has never been charged with any act of violence”.

“Dr Sen, who is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty, was convicted under laws that are impermissibly vague and fall well short of international standards for criminal prosecution,” Sam Zarifi said.

Zarifi said instead of persecuting Sen, the state should focus more on protecting people of the Naxalism-affected region from the abuses of both the Maoists as well as the security forces.

“State and federal authorities in India should immediately drop these politically motivated charges against Dr Sen and release him,” he said.

The 58-year-old paediatrician and vice-president of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, had been accused by the prosecution of carrying Sanyal’s messages and letters to the underground Maoists.

Sen, who has actively worked in the Maoist-affected districts, was one of the first vocal critics of Salwa Judum, the state-promoted anti-Maoist militant movement.

Sen was arrested on May 14, 2007 from Bilaspur and was in jail for two years before being granted bail by the Supreme Court in May last year.

“This sentence will seriously intimidate other human rights defenders who would provide a peaceful outlet for the people’s grievances, especially for the indigenous Adivasi population,” Zarifi said.

Sick do not come with Naxal labels

source

NAGPUR: Caught in the crossfire in conflict areas where Naxals operate are a bunch of medical practitioners who are torn between their ethos and security issues. Be it Dr Binayak Sen’s incarceration or the recent early morning raid at the resident of a former superintendent of Eastern coalfield limited’s main hospital at Asansol, doctors too have started coming under the scanner for their alleged Maoist links. Recently, a doctor attached to a public health centre at Kasansur in Gadchiroli too was questioned for ferrying an alleged Maoist to the city hospital from remote areas.

The doctor was grilled extensively by the cops. The Gadchiroli police had recently brought several health department workers under scanner after a sizeable consignment of government hospital medicines were seized during an encounter with the Maoists at Tadgaon in Bhamragarh. The security agencies believe that some of the medical practitioners and their machineries may be treating the outlaws. They now view these medical workers with suspicion. The police in West Bengal recently carried out a crackdown on quacks too on the grounds that they are clandestinely supporting the Maoists.

But the doctors TOI spoke to believe that ethics come first in their profession. International award winning social activist Dr Prakash Amte, whose Lok Biradari project at Bhamragarh is at the heart of Naxal stronghold, said that patients do not come with labels stuck on their forehead. “The government feels that the doctors are treating members of who approaches us. Our approach is to treat every human being equally. There is an element of fear but the Naxals do not trouble the doctors. I never heard of any public heath officer being harassed. In war, medical teams are always spared,” said Bang, adding that his hospital did not facilities to treat bullet injuries. Gadchiroli also has an MLA who was attached to the district hospital for long.

MLA Dr Namdeo Usendi too said responsibility that comes with the profession cannot be ignored. “Can you show me any rule book where a doctor is debarred from treating any particular category of patients? Ignoring someone’s illness is tantamount to violation of human rights,” said Dr Usendi. The first-time MLA said in case of suspect patients, the incident should be treated as a medico-legal case. “Let the police then conduct an enquiry. When patients come with general ailments, we provide them medicines irrespective of the background that he or she may have come from,” said Usendi. banned organizations. But how can a doctor discriminate against anyone seeking treatment on the basis of his background. We have to treat him,” said Amte who added that professionals in conflict areas always have to work under threat. Social activist Dr Abhay Bang, who runs a 30-bed hospital as a part of his mission ‘Search’ in Gadchiroli, said that he has never felt the heat of the skirmishes between Maoist and security forces. “Ethically we have to extend medical assistance to anyone who approaches us. Our approach is to treat every human being equally. There is an element of fear but the Naxals do not trouble the doctors. I never heard of any public heath officer being harassed. In war, medical teams are always spared,” said Bang, adding that his hospital did not facilities to treat bullet injuries. Gadchiroli also has an MLA who was attached to the district hospital for long. MLA Dr Namdeo Usendi too said responsibility that comes with the profession cannot be ignored. “Can you show me any rule book where a doctor is debarred from treating any particular category of patients? Ignoring someone’s illness is tantamount to violation of human rights,” said Dr Usendi. The first-time MLA said in case of suspect patients, the incident should be treated as a medico-legal case. “Let the police then conduct an enquiry. When patients come with general ailments, we provide them medicines irrespective of the background that he or she may have come from,” said Usendi.

If Binayak is a Naxal, so am I – former Chief Justice of New Delhi.

It’s two years and the government is yet to take any step for the doctor’s release
Samarth Pathak Delhi Hardnews
“Kick me, shake me, you can never break me” seemed to be the punch line of the emotionally charged ‘Free Binayak’ campaign held in Delhi on May 14. It marked the second year of imprisonment of human rights defender, Dr Binayak Sen, in Chhattisgarh.
The gathering saw hundreds of social activists, friends and supporters of Sen protesting against State atrocities through songs, poetry and straight-from-the-heart speeches. Participants voiced the need for a revolution and pledged their solidarity for the cause.
It started with a rendition Bob Dylan’s eternal classic, The Times They Are A-Changin. It was performed by a group of youngsters – Ritwik, Pakhi and Tushar, and everyone joined in the chorus. This was followed by a folk song, Gulabidas’s Marjeeva, by feminist Deepta Ghosh.
Explaining the song, she said, “Marjeeva denotes the man who dives into an ocean for pearls. It tells us that a person has to struggle and suffer pain to emerge successful and better than ever. Binayak Sen is also facing a tough struggle, but I know that like the Marjeeva, he will be vindicated and get justice in the end.”
Former Chief Justice of Delhi, Rajinder Sachar, was also present. “Why are we having this show? To convince ourselves, even though we know the truth? This campaign would only be successful if awareness is created outside these walls, and people are mobilised against injustice. I am ashamed to be a part of the judiciary that has meted out an unfair sentence to Binayak Sen. If Binayak is a Naxal, so am I,” he said. Amidst thunderous applause, Sachar continued, “I appeal to everyone to start a satyagraha and a jail bharo campaign to get justice for him. I assure you that I shall be the first satyagrahi to go to jail if this happens.”
Filmmaker and poet, Gauhar Raza, stirred emotions with his poems. “Lahu mein doobe yeh haath kab tak, rahenge dharma ke chaalak? (How long will these hands, soaked in blood, be the controllers of the people and religion?)” he read.
The campaigners demanded the immediate release of Dr Sen on medical grounds, an urgent repeal of draconian laws like the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, the UAPA (amended), 2004 and immediate action to speed up trials of people who share Sen’s fate.
Author Arundhati Roy said, “Binayak’s imprisonment is unfair and must be repealed. The state has no evidence, and to complicate things, both the Congress and the BJP are in collusion to frame Sen. I appeal to all not to be frightened and fight against this injustice. Campaigns like these are the first step. Now, we must take things forward.”
Sen, a well-known paediatrician from Christian Medical College, Vellore, was a public-spirited doctor. Dedicated towards the cause of social good, he had spent nearly three decades providing medical services to the tribals of Chhattisgarh. It’s alleged that Sen was falsely implicated by the Chhattisgarh government. He was taken as a “Naxal supporter” after he raised his voice against the war waged by the State against its own people in the name of Salwa Judum. He has been in jail since May 2007 even as his health is deteriorating. Twenty-two Nobel laureates had signed a petition and sent to the prime minister appealing for Sen’s release. As yet, nothing has been done, learnt Hardnews.
Supporters and friends of Sen, like Kaustav, feel that it’s time people united to get justice for a man who brought about a change for the people of his country. “People like Binayak Sen and Lalit Mehta are honest, sincere, upright and committed for the social good. That’s what every Indian should be like, if we want to be a truly great State. However, when instances like Binayak’s case, and the killing of Lalit take place, even those who are interested in changing people’s lives are disheartened. Let’s all get together and act now, to ensure that such things don’t happen again,” he said.
The campaign reminds of Faiz’s powerful poem,
Hum Dekhenge:
Hum mehkumoon ke paaon tale, Yeh dharti dhad dhad dhadkegi,Aur ahl-e-hukum ke sar upar, Jab bijli kad kad kadkegi…Hum dekhenge…(We, the oppressed, shall see the day, when beneath our feet this earth will live and thriveAnd heads of rulers will be struck by crackling lightening and thunder would roar…We shall see the day…)