New Delhi, April 15: Friends, family members and Union Ministers today hailed the Supreme Court order granting bail to rights activist Binayak Sen, with his lawyer Ram Jethmalani saying the verdict is an endorsement of the right to freedom of speech as “a principle of democracy”.
Union Ministers P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid expressed happiness over the court decision to release Sen, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition by a Chhattisgarh Court for helping Naxals set up a network, while Law Minister M Veerappa Moily termed it as an “eye opener” for the state government.
“‘Satyameva Jayete’ (truth alone triumphs)…. My faith in the judicial system is restored,” said Sen’s ailing mother Anasuya, 84, in West Bengal’s Nadia district, pointing that the verdict coincided with the Bengali New Year.
Describing her son as “a Gandhian,” she said that he “never believed in violence”.
-Agencies