High court reserves order on Binayak Sen’s bail plea (Second Lead)

BILASPUR - The Chhattisgarh High Court Wednesday reserved its order on the bail plea of rights activist Binayak Sen even as the state government opposed it on the grounds of his links with the Maoists.

Sen is at present lodged in a jail in Raipur capital city following his sentencing to life term by a trial court Dec 24 for sedition and over his links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal.

Additional Advocate General Kishore Bhaduri, representing the Chhattisgarh government, told the division bench of Justice T.P. Sharma and Justice R.L. Jhanwar, that Sen had strong links with the Maoists.

He said the seized documents and other evidences were sufficient for “not suspending the sentence awarded to him by the trial court”.

“Sen is a doctor by profession. But during the search at his residence, we could not find the stethoscope, any medical paper or other materials that are usually found with doctors,” the prosecution counsel argued.

“Its not just a simple case of a doctor engaged in social service,” he told the court.

Bhaduri added: “The trial court has already convicted Sen on the charges of sedition. The documents seized and the circumstances in totality qualify for the requirement for conviction on the charges of sedition.”

The court reserved its order after Bhaduri concluded his arguments.

Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani had Jan 24 argued strongly for Sen’s bail, highlighting alleged loopholes in the trial court verdict.

He had termed Sens conviction by the trial court “a case of no evidence” and “political prosecution”.

Another lawyer, Surendra Singh, also argued in favour of Sen Jan 25, telling the court that the “documents were planted by police to establish some connection of Sen with the Maoists”.