Amnesty International has said that the life sentence given to Dr Binayak Sen by the Raipur sessions court violates international standards of fair trial and warned that it is likely to "inflame’’ tension in the conflict-affected area.
Describing the trial itself as "politically motivated" and calling for the charges against Dr Sen to be dropped, Sam Zarifi, its Asia-Pacific director, said in a statement: "Dr Sen, who is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was convicted under laws that are impermissibly vague and fall well short of international standards for criminal prosecution. Instead of persecuting Dr Sen, authorities in Chhattisgarh should be acting to protect the people of the region from the abuses committed by the Maoists, as well as state security forces and militias."
He said the sentence would "seriously intimidate" other human rights activists working to provide a peaceful outlet for people's grievances, especially the Adivasis.
"Life in prison is an unusually harsh sentence for anyone, much less for an internationally recognized human rights defender who has never been charged with any act of violence. State and federal authorities in India should immediately drop these politically motivated charges against Dr Sen and release him," he said.
Keywords: Binayak Sen, Amnesty International, life sentence
Dr. Binayak Sen is lucky that he got a life sentence and has acquaintances as famous as Noam Chomsky and Amartya Sen. For most tribals in 36Garh, verdict is out before trial, in fact there is no question of trial since they are selected at random to butchered. In February, while traveling by Gitanjali Express to Mumbai, I met a BSF soldier working at the Maoist-"infested" (yes, this term is OFFICIALLY used for human beings) region in 36G. He told me that they go for raid at night, capture few tribals, torture the captured ones for the whole night, and irrespective of whether these trapped men give any information or not, they are killed in the morning.
Nowadays, the fate of the tortured people is worse because of the Human Rights groups. Few decades back, when the security forces would torture people for information, they were not afraid of Human Rights groups and would leave the tortured people alive after the operation. Nowadays, they don't leave them alive since these human rights groups might highlight the cases.
The kind of torture these BSF people do on the tribals is simply inhuman. The guy I met in the train told me how they insert needles into the genitals of the tribals to get information from them.
Only man is vile. No other creature can think of the various torture techniques used by the BSF, which might be in use in other parts of the world too. If you compare with those acts, a solitary cell for Binayak Sen is an abode of comfort even if it for 14 years. Majority of us in India live in a police state - as did the Chileans under Pinochet. The difference is that the society here has too many layers and those partying and celebrating the New Year in the city discotheques are totally oblivious of the people living in abject poverty ( child malnutrition worse than sub-Saharan Africa), insecurity (you might lose your land anytime to a Tata steel plant in Lohandiguda or a mining project by Vedanta) and terror (picked up by the security forces, get needles inserted at various parts of the body and finally murdered in an extra-judicial fake-encounter at the end of the torture).
dr b sen is definetly a saint in helping naxalite. if he was acting as courier if it is proved in court he should be punished and given the sentence according indian law.amnesty international makes a big fuss when the police or paramilitary kills insurgents( so called insurgents as terminology used by amnesty)they never critisize the killing by insurgents by road side bombs or targetteed killing of villagers who according to naxalite are4 colloborators.Killing by any one should be condemned by amnesty.(i remeber some time ago alawer for one eyed preacher in jail in usa was caught by authories and tried and punished according to law) d sen i tried and proved to be doing seditous work , according to indian law and due process was punished. he has other courses to appeal all the way to suprewme courtwhere he could be aquited or his punishment reduced.until amnesty condems ALL violenceGOVT OR NAXALITES i for one will be thinking that amnesty sees only one side of face my esteem for the organisati0on gretly reduced
While there're serious reservations about the police investigations that lead to Dr.Binayak Sen's trail and life sentence given,no human rights organizations have the right to term this as a politically motivated step by Indian authorities,that too in an affirmative mood.If we're to believe and live by the convictions of human rights groups,then what's the need of police and Governments here?If we're to secure our nation from the threats of maoists and other ultra anti-Indian groups,we need to persecute those who really give inputs to maoists about the moves of security forces,channelize funds for anti-national operations and above all preach the propaganda to hate our nation to the innocent and illiterate masses who live close to maoist prone areas and later succumb to terrorist extortions and waywardness.It's time we identify those who disguise themselves in the cloak of humanity,but in reality conspire against the democratically elected Governments.
It is very sad and frustrating to learn that an eminent personality like Dr. Sen is being persecuted in the name of justice, while other scamsters are going scot free. Because of 2G scam, Adarsh scam, cwg scam, etc, India has lost billions of dollars. Govt. is yet to think whether to punish those people or not; but swiftly sentenced Dr. Sen for life. Afzal Guru/ Kasab are yet to be hanged but poor tribal people are getting killed because of Police and Salwa Judum. Shame on our democracy.
After hearing about this cruel judgement, where the state machinery and the judiciary connive to mete out gross injustice to a citizen , we are only reminded of Kannagi's story and ruling given by Pandya king. Atleast in the Epic, the pandya king repented. the citizens know very well of the powers enjoyed by the police. i.e. why, politicians always tend to side with them. Where do we the draw line between verbal support and physical one? Instead of enacting draconian laws, there should be a specific provision to pin point that support in whatever form given to banned movements, amounts to treason. Atleast then, reformists will not tend to fall into the ditch, with their eyes open. What about such undertrial cases in Kashmir, where it is reported that human rights violations are at the extremes.
Good governance states that any one found guilty of sedition or Rajdroh in the country must be punished as per the law of the country. Commonsense says the harshest punishment must be given in such cases. Therefore no sympathy should be shown for Binayak Sen. I appreciate the judgement of the Court and am sure that in High Court also this judgement will remain unchanged. Other Courts in the country should also follow this judgement and bring other anti-national elements behind bars for ever. Someone has to start somewhere. What about the families of those innocents killed by Maoists. There are plenty of NGO's helping the poor and maoists in India. None of them have been arrested and charged. This guy help strengthen the maoist network and led them to killing of hundreds of our troops and civilians. Anyone including Amnesty International should look at the charges first before jumping up and down.
This is actually not at all acceptable, The people who are genuine, and really working hard, They are being harrased,and ill-treated by our government.
The surprising part of the way story has unfolded, suggests that court exhibited gross negligence in pronouncing the accused guilty. Media across the board has come with all out support against the verdict. Still its hard to believe that the Government and court have no solid evidence to prove Dr. Binayak Sen involvement with the Maoist. And if there is any substantial proof to link him to Naxalites, I think media should also take the responsibility of explaining the other side of the story. From a trusted newspaper like Hindu, readers expect to understand both sides of the coin.
Even after sixty three year of independence there is a wide gap. A group is looting the natural wealth, Minerals etc.and another group looting public money in thousands of crores and both are walking freely. But the people like Mr.Sen working for equality for the tribal are punished and The Government using thugs ,SulvaJudam to kill the tribals. Without equality, peace cannot be achieved. Dr. Binayak Sen should be released immediately
It is quite likely that the judge at the Raipur Sessions court could have erred in his judgement, but does Amnesty realise that India is a democratic country, where there are avenues for appeal upto the Supreme Court of India, unlike authoritarian countries? It is ridiculous to say that the verdict violates international standards of fair trial and warned that it is likely to 'inflame' tensions in the conflict-affected area. Are courts supposed to temper their verdicts according to whether their verdicts will inflame tensions? This kind of ignorant statements tend to violate the independence of the judiciary. Let the legal process run its course and let us see what comes out finally, instead of resorting to knee-jerk reactions. The charge could have been politically motivated, but the Indian judicial system has not been influenced by politics, at least at the supreme court level.
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