Binayak's supporters take to the streets

Holding placards and chanting slogans, activists, students and academicians Monday protested in the Capital against a Chhattisgarh court sentencing rights activist and doctor Binayak Sen to life imprisonment

Holding placards and chanting slogans, activists, students and academicians Monday protested in the Capital against a Chhattisgarh court sentencing rights activist and doctor Binayak Sen to life imprisonment. The protesters demanded that Sen be freed.


On the cards: Noted writer Arundhati Roy during a protest against what
supporters say is unjust conviction of doctor and activist Binayak Sen,
in New Delhi on Monday. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

Protesters comprised student associations from JNU and DU, people from various NGOs, civil rights groups, women's groups and many eminent individuals who marched from Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street. One of the posters read: "I believe in democracy; book me for sedition."

She was there
Predictably, Arundhati Roy was there. "All governments are the same; it is more or less like we are in a state of undeclared emergency. The Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act is not wrong, you just require an anti-government thought, just need to speak right and you can end up in jail for a long period of time," she said.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
Wordplay!

"What is sedition according to Indian law? Can they please describe it? I have not yet been charged with sedition, but it can happen soon.u00a0 I may end up being the next convict. If a man like Binayak Sen can meet this plight, it is a derogatory condition itself to live in a democracy, which believes in protecting criminal politicians and scamsters and lunatics," added Roy.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
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Speakers raised voices against the UPA government, calling it barbaric, hypocrite and existing only for furthering corporate interests. Among the speakers were lecturers, professors from JNU and activists from various groups. "I am outraged, shocked at the verdict. I think the government is completely insecure," said Kabir Saxena, a Buddhist monk.

State repression?
"The verdict is not only a conviction of Binayak Sen, it is a move to silence and intimidate all dissident voices who are critical of state repression, corporate clout and land grab," said Harish Dhawan, Economics teacher at Ram Lal Anand College (RLA), Delhi University.u00a0

The gathering committed itself to continuing the struggle for the release of Binayak Sen and other dissenting voices framed on fabricated charges in Chattisgarh and scrapping of draconian laws like the Chhatisgarh Public Security Act, the UAPA and AFSPA. A Raipur court on December 24 sentenced Sen to life imprisonment for sedition and links with outlawed Maoists.

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