Binayak Sen bail hearing to continue Tuesday
By IANSMonday, January 24, 2011
BILASPUR - A division bench of the Chhattisgarh High Court Monday heard rights activist Binayak Sen’s bail plea for over two hours and decided to continue the hearing Tuesday.
Sen is at present lodged in a central jail in Raipur after he was sentenced to life term by a trial court in Raipur Dec 24 on sedition charges over his links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal.
A division bench of Justice T.P. Sharma and Justice R.L. Jhanwar started the hearing in the afternoon.
The court, which is located about 110 km from state capital Raipur, began the hearing at 2.15 p.m. and continued it till 4.30 p.m.
BJP Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani, representing Sen in the high court, contested the lower court ruling and sought bail for the doctor-turned-rights activist.
Sen, 60, was held guilty by the trial court in a criminal conspiracy to commit sedition along with two others - Kolkata-based businessman Piyush Guha and Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal.
The trial court verdict was widely slammed by human right activists in India and abroad, who say he was victimised by the Chhattisgarh government for highlighting human rights abuse.
Dozens of activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), held black flag demonstrations about half a kilometre from the court building. This forced the authorities to step up security in and around the court complex.
The ABVP cadre were seen shouting slogans against Jethmalani for appearing in the court on behalf of Sen.
They also demonstrated against an eight-member foreign delegation of the European Union (EU) which was allowed to attend the court hearing.
The EU delegates also faced protests Sunday at Raipur airport when they landed here. Some 50 people backed by the BJP shouted slogans and displayed placards saying “Go Back”.
Upset by the EU delegation’s arrival, Chief Minister Raman Singh of the BJP told reporters at the party headquarters in Raipur: “India’s judiciary is highly competent and it does not require foreign delegates to monitor a hearing as it would be viewed as a move to pressurise court.”
Ram Sewak Paikra, president of the BJP in Chhattisgarh where the party is in power since December 2003, said: “Foreign observers have no role to play in Sen’s case, their arrival here is a direct interference in the Indian judiciary system. It has never happened in India that foreign observers attended court to monitor a case, it must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
Sen’s wife Ilina Sen, her family members and several members of his rights group, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, were present in the court.
