The Hindu : Front Page : Binayak Sen calls for unified human rights movement

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Sunday, Jul 26, 2009
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Binayak Sen calls for unified human rights movement

Aarti Dhar

— Photo: V. Sudershan

Civil rights activist Binayak Sen (right) is greeted by Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar as social activist Swami Agnivesh looks on in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Civil rights activist Binayak Sen, who was released recently after 14 months of what was described in many circles as “illegal detention under a draconian law,” on Saturday called for a unified human rights movement across the country.

“We cannot be happy about fragmented victory achieved in obtaining bail [for him]. We have to come together and launch a peace initiative to fight for all those people who are under illegal detention under various laws,” Dr. Sen said at a meeting organised by the Committee for the Release of Dr. Binayak Sen here — his first meeting since his release from the Raipur jail.

Dr. Sen was arrested on May 14, 2007 under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA), 2005 for his alleged links with naxals.

“There is no reason to celebrate. There are many others languishing in jail. The attacks on human rights are increasing and ‘military consultations’ are being used by the States to solve social issues,” he said. “There needs to be political engagement and a process for peace talks to halt military consultation.”

Reiterating his commitment to continue his campaign against the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, Dr. Sen said he would also take up the cause of 178 people who are detained under the CSPSA and hundreds of others jailed under various Acts across the country.

Thanking the media, lawyers, activists and others who supported his cause, Dr. Sen said that when he went to jail he had been anonymous, but when he walked out he was surrounded by photographers and journalists in a number he had never seen before. Pointing out that the space for democratic institutions in the country was shrinking, Shabnam Hashmi of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust spoke of thousands of young Muslim boys who were jailed in Gujarat, Hyderabad and other States without trial.

Moushumi Basu of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights said it was unfortunate that the National Human Rights Commission gave a clean chit to the policemen in the Batla House encounter, when “each one of us had seen the way the men were killed in cold blood.”

Human rights activist Achint Vinayak called for fighting what he termed “state terrorism.” even though it would be a difficult task.

Corrections and Clarifications

Civil rights activist Binayak Sen was released on bail recently after 24 months of detention. (He was arrested on May 14, 2007 and granted bail on May 25, 2009.) The first paragraph of a report "Binayak Sen calls for united human rights movement" (July 26, 2009) gave it as 14 months.

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