Protest in the US against Dr. Binayak Sen’s life sentence

By TCN News

Cambridge: Cries of “Free, Free Binayak Sen” echoed through Harvard Square of Cambridge, Massachusetts with about two-dozen activists gathered to protest the life imprisonment sentence for Dr. Binayak Sen.

Volunteers of the Association for India's Development, Boston (AID-Boston), Boston-area alumni of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore (India), an activist of the South Asia Center (SAC) and the deputy-director of Cambridge-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) participated in a protest rally at Harvard Square on Dec. 24.

They expressed their strong condemnation of the life-imprisonment sentence accorded to noted human-rights activist and physician Dr. Binayak Sen in the afternoon of Dec. 24, Indian Standard Time, in Raipur in central India. Dr Sen, along with two others, were accused of collaborating with anti-state forces on what the defense claimed were flimsy evidence.

Honorine Ward, an alumna of CMC and an assistant professor at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, said that she had met Dr. Sen and his wife just two weeks ago in India in Vellore where Dr. Sen was involved in developing a special academic course on health and human rights. “I asked them if they ever thought of leaving India to go somewhere else. And Dr. Sen said that they had to complete the work they had undertaken at the grassroots and in academics.”

Susannah Sirkin, the deputy-director of PHR, said that her organization had been supportive of Dr. Sen's case right from the beginning. She also mentioned that she had been in touch with Dr. Jonathan Fine, a founder of PHR, who was on the court premises in Raipur during the hearing of Dr. Sen's case on Dec. 24th. “He said he could not help crying when speaking with Dr. Sen's wife before and after the verdict was declared,” she related.

Activists in Harvard Square raising slogans in favour of Dr. Binayak Sen. [Photo: AID]

Garga Chatterjee, an AID-Boston volunteer and a PhD student at Harvard University was also shocked by the sentencing. “This has shaken our faith in the Indian judiciary,” he said.

Dr. Sen was awarded the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Internationally celebrated for his work on behalf of the poorest and for his defense of human rights, Dr. Sen has been persecuted by the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh for speaking out against the violence perpetrated by the security forces and by the state-backed militia, Salwa Judum. Arrested in May 2007, Dr. Sen served two years in prison without trial, including a spell of solitary confinement, before being given bail by the Supreme Court in May 2009.

Hardeep Mann of SAC said that the sentencing of Dr. Sen was a way of setting an example for all those who dared to question the state and its authority. “It is meant as a warning to all of us,” she remarked.

The life sentence of Dr. Binayak Sen has shocked many and words of condemnation have been pouring in from different corners of the world.

Amnesty International who considers Dr. Sen as prisoner of conscience has asked that the "State and federal authorities in India should immediately drop these politically motivated charges against Dr Sen and release him."

Khalid Azam, a founding member of Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) said that taken together with the Ayodhya Judgment pronounced in September this latest judgment put a serious question mark on the credibility of lower courts of India. “Judges should decide based on the evidence presented on them and in the case of Dr. Binayak Sen, all evidence seems to be planted by the police,” he asked for Dr. Sen’s release on bail while higher courts look at the evidence.

Many programs are planned in coming days in different parts of India in support of Dr. Binayak Sen.

Peoples’ Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR), Delhi has given a call of protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 27th December at 3pm.

COVA (Confederation of Voluntary Associations) organising protest on December 25th at 6 pm at Press Club, Basheer Bagh, Hyderabad.