By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday granted bail to human rights activist Binayak Sen who is undergoing life imprisonment in a Chhattisgarh jail on charges of sedition and links with Maoists.
No case for sedition was made out against Sen, the apex court bench of Justice Harjit Singh Bedi and Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad said while making a scathing observation that a person does not become a Gandhian just because he is found with a biography of Mahatma Gandhi.
Binayak Sen [Photo Courtesy: Outlookindia]
The bench said the bail would be subject to the satisfaction of the trial court. The court ridiculed the state’s submission that Sen was actively involved in spreading disharmony and disaffection against the state.
“We are in a democratic country. At best he (Binayak Sen) is a sympathizer. There are many sympathizers of a cause,” the court observed.
The court asked senior counsel Uday Lalit appearing for the Chhattisgarh government: “Even going by your case, does admitted fact point to violence and sedition (against Binayak Sen)?”
“Distribution and circulation and even possession of (Maosit ideology and propaganda material) does not amount to sedition,” the court said.
At this, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani appearing for Sen told the court that the documents that the state government had relied upon for alleging sedition against the rights activists were “available in the book form and could be had from any bookshop”.
When Lalit said that an organ of judiciary (trial court and the Chhattisgarh High Court) had relied on these documents to hold Sen guilty of sedition, the court said, “Even in the worst case scenario, that he (Sen) was in possession of these documents, does not make him guilty of sedition”.
As Lalit drew the attention of the court about Sen meeting the jailed Maoist leader Piyush Guha 35 times in three years, the court said: “They meet in the visitors’ room in the presence of police officials and are searched before and after the meeting”.
The court said that even if the state government’s contention that Sen was in the possession of banned material and was involved in its circulation was true, it did not justify the charge of sedition.
Granting bail to Binayak Sen, the court said, “Even if we take your (state government’s ) case at its very best, can it amount to to sedition?”
It said, “He (Sen) may be meeting 100 people every day. He is a sympathizer (of Maoists) and he is helping them, (Yet) no case of sedition is made out against him.”
Sen, 61, at present in a jail in the Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, had challenged the Feb 10 order of the high court rejecting his bail plea.
He was sentenced by the trial court Dec 24, 2010, for sedition. He was accused of acting as a courier between Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata-based businessman Guha, both of whom have also been jailed for life.
The state government, in its reply to Sen’s petition in the high court, said he “has the same ideology as that of CPI-Maoist (Communist Party of India-Maoist) and he is addressed as a comrade by hardcore Naxalites (Maoists)”.
“He provides active support and co-ordinates in spreading the base of CPI-Maoist in the country. For hardcore Naxalites, he arranges safe hideouts by arranging house on rent, helps open bank account, helps in getting employment to conceal identity and provides employment by incorporating trusts.”
The Chhattisgarh government claimed Sen was helping the Maoists in building “urban network and sympathisers”.
Timeline of Binayak Sen case:
May 14, 2007: Binayak Sen arrested in Bilaspur on charges of carrying messages between Piyush Guha, a businessman, and Narayan Sanyal, a Maoist ideologue.
May 15: Sen remanded to judicial custody.
May 25: Chhattisgarh government claims Sen is a threat to state security. Bail is not granted.
May-June: Human rights activists rally across India in Sen’s support.
Aug 3: Police file charge sheets against Sen under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Satyabhama Dubey.
Dec 10: Two-judge Supreme Court bench denies Sen’s bail petition.
Dec 31: Sen awarded the R.R. Keithan Gold Medal by the Indian Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of “his outstanding contribution to the advancement of science of Nature-Man-Society for improving the quality of life of the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed people of Chhattisgarh”.
March 15-April 11, 2008: Sen kept in solitary confinement. Prison authorities claim it is for his security.
April 21: Sen awarded Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights by the Global Health Council.
May 30: Trial begins in Raipur.
Aug 11: Second bail petition filed in the Chhattisgarh High Court in Bilaspur.
Aug 14: First hearing on the bail. Hearing adjourned.
Dec 2: Bail petition dismissed.
Dec 3: Supplementary charge sheet filed, listing 47 additional witnesses.
May 4, 2009: Supreme Court issues notice to the Chhattisgarh government questioning Sen’s detention and demanding its response in two weeks. The court also asks for the best medical care to be provided for Sen’s heart condition.
May 25: Sen released on bail by Supreme Court vacation bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Deepak Verma.
Nov 23-26: Trial resumes in Raipur sessions court.
Late August-early September, 2010: Supreme Court directs the Chhattisgarh government to complete presenting its evidence against Sen by end-September.
Sep 28: Prosecution concludes presenting evidence.
Nov 25-26: Defence presents 12 witnesses along with supporting documents.
Dec 24: Raipur sessions court finds Sen, Sanyal and Guha guilty of sedition and conspiracy and sentences all three to life imprisonment.
Jan 24, 2011: Sen’s bail application hearing begins in Chhattisgarh High Court. Ram Jethmalani opens the arguments for Sen, terming the trial court verdict “a case of no evidence”.
Jan 25: Another lawyer, Surendra Singh, argues in favour of Sen, telling the court that “documents were planted by Chhattisgarh Police to establish Sen’s link to Maoists”.
Feb 9: The high court reserves its orders after prosecution counsel Kishore Bhaduri concludes his arguments, saying “seized documents were sufficient enough for not suspending the sentence awarded to Sen by the trial court”.
Feb 10: A division bench of Justice T.P. Sharma and Justice R.L. Jhanwar rejects Sen’s bail application.
April 11: Supreme Court division bench of justices H.S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad adjourns the hearing after the Chhattisgarh government seeks more time to argue its case.
April 15: Supreme Court grants bail to Binayak Sen.