Latest on Dr.Sen..........

Posted by: "S.Choudhary" smitashu@gmail.com shu36garh
Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:19 am (PST)


Dear friends

The arguments on Dr Sen's bail application was completed today inBilaspur high court. It has now been reserved for order. AdvocateKanak Tiwari argued for Dr Sen.We have also recieved a press not from Committee for the release of DrSen in Delhi. Pls find this below.

regads

Shubhranshu


COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF DR BINAYAK SEN18 July 2007PRESS RELEASE


Re: Formation of the Committee for the Release of Dr Binayak SenA Committee for the Release of Dr Binayak Sen, General Secretary PUCLChattisgarh, has been formed in Delhi. The committee comprises anumber of democratic rights organizations and individuals associatedwith them, women's groups, public health organizations and eminentindividuals.


The announcement was made here at a press conferenceaddressed by, among others, the senior journalist Prabash Joshi,Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and academic Dr Nandini Sundar.Dr Binayak Sen, health care activist and General Secretary of theChattisgarh People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has been injudicial custody since 14 May, over two months.



He has been wronglydetained and repeatedly been denied bail despite widespread protestsin many cities and signature campaigns on his behalf.PUCL Chattisgarh has been one of the few organizations in Chattisgarhto draw attention to the excesses committed by the Chattisgarhgovernment under its Salwa Judum campaign, which is why Dr Sen andPUCL have been targeted by the government.



Since the Salwa Judum wasinitiated by the government two years ago, about 60,000 poor adivasishave been forcibly displaced, numerous villages burnt, women attackedand raped, and agriculture and adivasi livelihoods affected. Dozens ofpeople have been killed by state forces in fake encounters. Violentattacks by the Maoists on state forces have followed in this context.All these facts have been extensively documented by numerous respectedand independent civil rights and women's groups. Dr Sen has beendetained under the Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2006 andthe Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004, both laws that havebeen criticized for being extremely vague and subjective in whatisdeemed unlawful.Absurd charges of waging war against the state were later slapped onhim.



We wonder why the Indian government considers a threat to publicorder a doctor who has taken health care to the poorest in the regionfor over 25 years, one who was a member of a state advisory committeeitself on community-based health! But because such a respected doctorand public intellectual dared to raise his voice against stateexcesses in Chattisgarh, a vicious media campaign has beenorchestrated by the government and a pliant media to present Dr Sen asa Maoist 'extremist' and PUCL as a Maoist organization. Nothing couldbe further from the truth.



We believe that the arrest of Dr BinayakSen is one of the gravest assaults on the democratic rights movementsin India in recent years and has wider implications for democracy inthis country. We demand: That all charges against Dr Binayak Sen bedropped and that he be released immediately;The immediate disbanding of the Salwa Judum That the ChattisgarhSpecial Public Security Act, 2006 and the Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 2004 be repealed.


APOORV ANAND NAGRAJ ADVE SADHNA SAXENA RANJANA PADHI For Committee forthe Release of Dr Binayak Sen Tel: 26495976, 9811153254, 26856749Address: 125, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi

source- cgnet.in