The most brazen injustice meted out to Dr Binayak Sen, Vice president of PUCL by the lower court of Raipur (Chattisgarh) has aroused enormous amount of dissent/outrage amongst every cross section of civil society across the globe. The travesty of justice given to such a person who has been dedicated to the community health care system of one of the poorest region of Bastar Dist. (Chattisgarh) . The paradigm of his cent percent contribution in taking care of health of the poorest of the poor has no parallel at the present society of consumerism. He abhorred the hedonist lifestyle as the market economy provokes.
After passing out MD in Paediatrics with Gold Medal from CMC Vellore any Doctor of his time would have looked for green pastures in the west. But, he instead, took a plunge off the beaten track to serve the cause of most poverty stricken Adivasis of Bastar. So, naturally the affluent as well the privileged section of the middle class society were very much averse to his commitment to serve the have-nots .He has not swayed by the avarice and been acting against the will of the plunderers of mines. The unholy alliance of the state politicians and industrial lobbies along with the people of vested interests has been contemplating to frame him in a draconian law right through. On May 14th 2007 he was arrested as a conduit between Maoists under a draconian law of the state of Chattisgarh and languished in jail for two years. After a prolonged legal battle distinguished People’s lawyer Prashanta Bhusan was able to get Dr. Binayak Sen released by the order of Supreme Court on bail. During such detention, he was given 2008 Jonathan Mann Award by the Global Health Council for his health care service and upholding of human rights. He was denied to receive the award in person despite a joint appeal made by twenty-two Nobel laureates to the PM (Manmohan Singh).
But, this time, civil society of our country has come forward in big way to thwart such a unconstitutional action by the judiciary. We have found that from 24th. December2010,a stream of intellectuals right from ANAND PATTABARDHAN (DOC. FILM MAKER)ARUNA ROY ( MEMBER, NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL) ASHISH NANDY(SOCIOLOGIST) RAM CHANDRA GUHA (HISTORIAN) ARUNDHATI ROY (ESSAYIST, SOCIAL ACTIVIST)MEDHA PATKAR (SOCIAL ACTIVIST) APARNA SEN ( FILM MAKER) SOLI SORABJI (EX. ATTORNEY GENERAL) FALI NARIMAN (EMINENT JURIST),ASHOKE MITRA(ECONOMIST),AMARTYA SEN(ECONOMIST&NOBLE LAUREATE) DEBABRATA BANDOPADHYAY( RETD. IAS, EX, LANDREVENUE SECY) E.M. RAMMOHAN (EX.DGP, CRPF MEMBER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE), ROMILA THAPAR (HISTORIAN), RAJENDRA SACHAR &A.P.SHAH (BOTH RETD. CHIEF JUSTICE OF DELHI HC), BRINDA KARAT (M.P.CPM) MALINI BHATTACHARJEE (CHAIRPERSON ,W.B. WOMEN’S COMMISSION) VRINDA GROVER (LAWYER,SUPREME COURT) AND THE PEOPLE’S LAWYER PRASHANTA BHUSAN (who moved the petition of bail at supreme court on behalf of Dr. Sen) to NOAM CHOMSKY, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL , PUCL,PUDR and innumerable number of individuals, organizations have unequivocally condemned the atrocious judgement and resolved in no uncertain terms to fight out to enforce the rule of justice as guaranteed in our constitution by democratic means.
We as a law abiding citizen of India , do express our solidarity in letter & spirit with Ms. Ilina Sen in the ensuing legal battle at the High Court.