Please Add Your
Signatures
December 27 2010
Release Binayak Sen,
NOW
Citizens from different walks of life
from Mumbai and Maharashtra have unequivocally condemned the life
imprisonment sentence meted out to Dr Binayak Sen, a human rights activist
and defender of deep commitment to the poor and marginalized by a trial
court in the central Indian state of Chhatisgarh on December 24. They have
demanded that he be granted bail immediately and the appeal to this
scandalous pronouncement be heard by the higher courts, forthwith.
The judgement is appalling upholding as
it does charges of sedition against a man who struggled for the rights of
IndiaÂ’s adivasis and one who moreover, opted for a life among the
voiceless. Not only was the case framed by a vindictive state of Chhatisgarh,
a false and motivated one u/s 120(b) 124(a) of the IPC and u/s 1,2,3,5 of
the Chhatisgarh Special Public Security Act and section 39(2) of the UAPA
(2004 amended), the conviction sets a dangerous trend for IndiaÂ’s
judiciary.
Such signals from our courts are
directly aimed at human rights defenders who tirelessly expose state terror,
rights violations by counter terrorism forces like salva judum, and the
central and state paramilitary, while espousing the path of non violence.
Apart from a unjust and unfair persecution of Dr Binayak Sen and his family,
such a verdict that ignores the fundamental rights and civil liberties of
the people while privileging the brute force of the state machinery actively
ensure that the critical spaces for dissent that allow struggle for justice,
critical in a living, breathing democracy shrink, pushing persons to
extremes.
The verdict sends a warning signal to
all those who struggle for the civil liberties and human rights of the
disaffected and coming as it does from a court plunges human rights
preservation and protection in the country to an all time low. It is time
for all who stand for equality and freedom to raise our voices against the
brute injustice meted out to Dr Binayak Sen and his family. Make the demand,
Releas Binayak Sen, NOW!!
Alyque Padamsee
Anil Dharker
eesta Setalvad
Cyrus Guzder
Arvind Krishnaswamy
Javed
Anand
Nirmal Jajodia
Rahul Bose
Cedric Prakash
Taizun Khorakhiwala
Naresh Fernandes
Hasan Kamal
Nandan Maluste,
Preeti Bhat
Manek Guzder
Ammu Abraham
Jerry Pinto
Ayesha Guzder
Maulana Azhari Malegaon
Amili Setalvad
Nakul Mehta
Dolly Thakore
Ravi Kulkarni
Quasar Padamsee
Mihir Saswadkar
Shakuntala Kulkarni
Sumedh Jadhav
Suresh Bhosale
Ritwik Kulkarni
Neelam Jajodia
Joe Pinto, Kalpana Joshi, Pune,
Statement issued by: Citizens for
Justice and Peace, Mumbai