EU delegation attends hearing of Binayak Sen’s bail plea
By IANSMonday, January 24, 2011
BILASPUR - An eight-member delegation of the European Union were present at the Chhattisgarh High Court Monday here when senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani argued for rights activist Binayak Sen’s bail.
The EU delegates, who faced protests Sunday night at Raipur airport and here again Monday by cadres of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s (RSS) student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who staged black flag demonstrations against them, were allowed to be present in the jam-packed court after completing some formalities.
“The EU delegation wanted to attend the court hearing and we allowed them go inside after some necessary formalities when the court agreed,” a police official said.
A division bench of Justice T.P.Sharma and Justice R.L. Jhanwar held the hearing in afternoon period in which Jethmalani contested the lower court rulings and sought bail for the doctor-turned right activist.
Sen, 60, was held guilty by the trial court Dec 24 for sedition along with two others- Kolkata-based businessman Piyush Guha and Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal.
The trial court verdict that sent Sen to life term was widely slammed by human right activists in India and abroad, who say he was victimised by the Chhattisgarh government for highlighting human right abuses.
