Verdict on Binayak Sen: Protest to show we are alive

Dr. Binayak Sen’s life sentence by a lower Raipur Court couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. The New Year is beginning. The Indian economy is projected to grow at a rate of 8%. The real estate prices in the country are booming to an all time high. Indian stake at symbols of power like the permanent UN Security Council seat appears more justified than ever before. The nuclear deal, the memorandums of understanding, the new dams, special economic zones….every block is falling in place. It seems India Inc has arrived at the party. But unfortunately every party has the so called party-spoilers, who create ruckus to dampen the spirit of fun and festivity. It is the prime duty of the party host to keep such nuisances at bay.
Dr Binayak Sen has emerged as one of the most prominent spoiler for this celebration of neo-liberal loot and pilferage. His work in the tribal areas of Chattisgarh has been treated as an act of sedition by a judiciary which stinks of grubby political bias. He and two others have been sentenced for rigorous life imprisonment and shorter prison terms, to run concurrently under Sections 124A read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 8(1), 8(2), 8(3) and 8(5) of the Chhattisgarh Vishesh Jan Suraksha Adhiniyam, 2005 (Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act) and Section 39(2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. It is important to realize that this half baked verdict is a clear message for those who dare to challenge the new order of India Inc…..the order which displaces the local aboriginal population in the name of development, growth and other such illogical jargon of adjectives which are common use by the state machinery. The tribal districts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka and Maharasthra are the destination of some US $ 85 bn of promised investments, mostly in steel and iron plants, and mining projects. In Chhattisgarh itself 9,620 acres of land is already under process of acquisition. The juggernaut of development is puffing on all cylinders and anyone who attempts to question the validity, logic and benefits of this capitalist expansion is in serious danger of being eliminated in the name of sedition, Naxalism, Maoism or treason.
The malicious and seriously dangerous agenda of the Chattisgarh government is highlighted in the blatant lacunae within the verdict delivered on Dr Sen by B.P. Verma, the Second Additional District and Sessions Judge of Raipur. For example associating Dr Binayak Sen to the seditious Maoist cause is based on an important testimony given by Deepak Chaubey, the so called landlord who rented his accommodation to the Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal on the recommendation of Dr Sen. This assertion of Chaubey came on direct questioning by the Public Prosecutor, a fact overlooked by Sh Verma. It was also ignored that Chaubey was acting on duress of the police who threatened to implicate him in the case. Reading the 92 page judgement it can also be concluded that Judge Verma has based Dr Sen’s implication with the CPI Maoists largely on police hearsay and planted evidence. He has conveniently overlooked the thirty odd years of selfless service by Dr Sen not only as a reputed doctor but as a human right activist.
It is high time that the civil society of our country wakes up to the nefarious agenda of development and the concomitant “collateral damage” in its wake. Courageous people like Dr. Binayak Sen who send ripples of hope in vast masses of humanity, need to be defended at all costs. Our Hon. Home Minister has said that this verdict might be unsatisfactory for some people (italics are mine). It’s laughable to hear this from a Harvard educated lawyer, even if the statement was made under executive compulsions. Judicial verdicts can never be satisfactory or unsatisfactory; they are either just or unjust. And why some people? Probably because the state wants to undermine the numbers of those who are hungry, poor and deprived?
In a country which ignores hunger deaths, genocide criminals, millions of malnourished children (more than Sub Saharan Africa) and a defunct political class, people like Dr Binayak Sen are the only hope and a selfish state has no right to take these symbols of hope from us. Scream, shout, protest and wriggle out of the iron grip of injustice. As common people we need to show signs of life…..we have been dead long enough. Remonstration and disapproval of this injustice is the way ahead. I am reminded of a saying by the Romanian American Nobel Peace Laureate, Elie Weisel, he said “there may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

Dr Binayak Sen

14th of May 2009 was not only the last day in the long process of the LS Elections, it was also the second anniversary of the incarceration of Dr Binayak Sen. Dr Sen who languishes in Raipur jail is ailing with a heart condition for which urgent medical help is required. Despite the efforts and pleas of a number of NGOs, social activists and even nobel laureates, the Chattisgarh government continues its unjustified detention of Dr Sen. What is more appalling is the fact that even charges have not been framed against Dr Sen in the course of two years and he has been denied bail on more than a single occasion.

This is what our executive and judiciary can offer as reward to a person who gave everything up to continue on his mission to serve the poor and the underpriviledged masses of this great country. It's a shame that Dr Sen languishes in jail even when murderers and thugs can fight elections and get bail to vote out a government during a confidence motion. Even more atrocious is the total neglect on part of the Indian media towards this case. Both the print and the electronic media have made sure that the case does not catch the imagination of the people of India. On enquiry from a TV reporter of some repute, I was told that they don't support Dr Sen's case as he has charges of sedition against him. How rediculous could that be! In the first place, charges of any nature and gravity are yet to be framed and proven against Dr Sen. Secondly, if charges of murder against Arushi Talwar's father (yet to be proven), charges of sedition against Sanjay Dutt, charges of murder against Pappu Yadav can find place in our media than surely Dr Sen's case can find some support and space. Anyway this is what we can all expect from a media controlled by the corporate world. We all are well aware of how much the corporate world loves Dr Sen and his mission! Although the national media has conciously avoided covering Dr Sen's case, a number of International journals in medicine and surgery have carried editorials and news items asking for his early release. The New England Journal of Medicine and British Medical Journal are worthy of note in this respect.

It is a national disgrace that a soul like Dr Binayak Sen still languishes in prison due to the shear high handedness and draconian policies of a democratically elected government. It is high time that we, the people of India, channalise all efforts in our means to secure the early release of Dr Sen. We all should realise that such imperious and autocratic means to silence the voice of sanity must meet stubborn resistance from all quarters. If we don't speak for Dr Sen today, no one will speak for us tomorrow.