Case against Sen fraudulent, says Maoist MP from Nepal

KATHMANDU - Reacting in stunned disbelief to the news that Indian rights activist Binayak Sen had been slapped with life imprisonment by an Indian court Friday for “sedition” and “conspiracy”, a Maoist lawmaker with long links with India said it was a “fraudulent case”.

“Binayak Sen is a rights activist and should not be dragged into such charges,” said Maoist MP and Jawaharlal Nehru University research student Hari Roka. “It is wrong and condemnable. The Indian authorities should reconsider the verdict.”

Roka, who was nominated to Nepal’s parliament by the Maoist party, which became the largest party in the house after laying down arms in 2006 and contesting an election two years later, also said that the President of India, who had pre-emptive powers, should exercise them to free the physician who commanded widespread respect in India and abroad.

Another Maoist MP and former chief of the party’s foreign affairs, Chandra Prakash Gajurel, said the sentence should be challenged in the higher courts.