On Friday, when the Supreme Court granted bail to Binayak Sen, a doctor who was sentenced to life for links with Maoists and disputed sedition charges, the members of the civil society while welcoming back Dr Sen to the “free world”, said they had every reason to believe that the bail will only “reach its logical end” and that Sen will finally be acquitted.
Activist Shabnam Hashmi said: “The step to grant Dr Sen bail will be looked in a positive direction and we all have hopes for Dr Sen’s acquittal.”
While Sunil Singh of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative stated: “We better be scared of what happened with Dr Sen who was only working for peace an prosperity. I have hopes in the judicial system and reasons to believe the acquittal of Dr Sen will come soon.”
Talking about protecting such human rights activists as Dr Sen, Justice Rajinder Sachar said: “Human rights defenders must be defended otherwise the entire human rights movement will fall apart. Binayak’s case is an example.”
Supporting Dr Sen, who has always championed the peaceful route while solving any social problem, spiritual Guru Swami Agnivesh said that only peace can bring about stability in crisis hit areas, be it Chhattisgarh or any other place.
“To bring peace in such areas we require people like Dr Sen,” said the spiritual guru adding that this judgement paves the way for release of all other social activists who are lying in jails on charges of having links with Maoists. We will take all such cases to the Supreme Court, said Swami Agnivesh.
The court granted bail almost four months after a court in Chhattisgarh sentenced him to life in prison on charges of sedition and conspiracy against the state.