Sen conviction ‘a case of no evidence’, Jethmalani tells court

BILASPUR - Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani made strong arguments Monday for more than two hours in Chhattisgarh High Court here and did his best to highlight alleged loopholes of the trial court verdict that awarded rights activist Binayak Sen life term on sedition charges.

Jethmalani told a division bench of Justice T.P. Sharma and Justice R.L. Jhanwar that the Binayak Sen conviction “is a case of no evidence,” referring to the Raipur sessions court’s Dec 24 verdict.

He argued that the trial court had simply relied on the police version for the conviction as the evidences produced by the prosecution were not sufficient for such a conviction.

Pressing for bail of Sen, Jethmalani pointed out that the 60-year-old right activist was not a member of either any banned organisation or had participated in illegal or unlawful activities.

The veteran lawyer stressed that there was no material on record to prove that Binayak Sen had committed any offence that comes under the purview of sedition.

“Sen does not deny that he knows Narayan Sanyal. He did not interfere when the police searched his house in Raipur. This is the conduct of an honest man willing to face the consequences,” Jethmalani argued.

He added: “The seizures from Sens residence were some innocuous literature dealing with some ills which the PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) has been fighting for.”

Referring to Sens conviction on the charges of sedition, Jethmalani argued that the charges under section 124 A (sedition)of the Indian penal Code cannot be sustained at all due to manifold reasons.

“Sen did not commit sedition either in words, written or in any other manner to spread hatred against the government established by law. Besides, not a single document seized qualifies to be linked with sedition charges,” he said.

Jethmalani also pointed out that the three undated letters seized from Kolkata-based businessman Piyush Guha are no evidence under the law.

He said Sen, an active PUCL member, had been raising the issues related to human rights and police atrocities in the tribal areas.

Referring to Sens conviction under the provisions of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, Jethmalani said the PUCL petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Act, itself was pending for consideration before the high court.

He said the provisions in the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act have no sufficient safeguards against its possible misuse as like in the central legislation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The high court will continue to hear Sens bail appeal Tuesday as the arguments remained inconclusive.

While Jethmalani concluded his nearly two-and-a-half hour arguments, another defence counsel Surendra Singh is expected to continue the arguments Tuesday.