Raipur, December 24: The Raipur sessions court on Friday found Dr Binayak Sen and three others guilty. Dr Sen was charged with treason and waging war against India. Sen has been found guilty of helping the Maoists. Security was stepped up in and around the district and sessions court verdict on Sen was given.
The judgment assumes significance for right activists who say that authorities trapped Sen, a doctor and a civil rights activist, on trumped up charges.
“We are very eagerly awaiting the judgment,” Rajendra K. Sail, a former president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), had said.
Another rights activist, Gautam Bandopadhyay, said: “Whatever the judgment, we (activists) will continue to raise voice against rights abuses by government.”
Sen was picked up in May 2007 from Bilaspur town under the stringent Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act for alleged links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal. He was released in May 2009 on the order of the Supreme Court.
The court had completed its hearing last week. It began the trial in May 2008 and examined 97 witnesses.
The prosecution claimed that Sen was very much involved in establishing an urban network for the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). The defence denied the charges.
Human rights activists in India and abroad, as well as, doctors from the US and other countries urged the Indian government to free him, calling his detention unjust and violative of human rights.
——–IANS