Kerala Council of Churches (KCC), the umbrella organisation of the various non-Catholic Episcopal churches in Kerala, has come out in support of Binayak Sen, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition.
Taking a serious view of the arrest and conviction of Dr. Sen along with Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal and businessman Piyush Guha, Philip N. Thomas, secretary, KCC, said Dr. Sen, leader of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) had been a well known human rights activist and physician. His struggle for the rights of tribes people and other alienated groups was well known. The laws passed by the Chhattisgarh government to fight terror had been abused to implicate human rights activists in sedition. This was a clear case of State terror and denial of justice to law abiding citizens, he said in a press note.
To express solidarity with the struggle taken up by Dr. Sen and his friends, KCC, jointly with MM Thomas Memorial Trust and Development Training Programme, will organise a meeting at 3 p.m. on February 9 at YMCA Hall, Thiruvalla. Philipose Mar Chrysostum Mar Thoma Valia Metropolitan will inaugurate. Kuriakose Mar Ivanios Metropolitan, vice president, KCC, will preside. Leaders of various human rights movements will speak on the occasion, the press note said.
Published - February 07, 2011 05:05 pm IST
