Dr.D.Binayak Sen completed one year of incarceration in a Chattisgarh prison on 13th May 2008. An efficient paediatrician whose commitment to the thousands of downtrodden is well known as also his leadership of People’s Union For Civil Liberties. In our society such kinds of great doctors are very rare. Many of the Indian doctors after taking Hippocratic oath enter the medical profession with the intention of amassing lakhs and lakhs of rupees are not at all concerned with the poverty stricken dalits living in the interior parts, especially rural areas. In a country where corruption rules the roost it is not surprising.Doctors of Dr.Sen’s calibre are very rare.
Dr.Sen is now languishing in solitary confinement. He has been charged with connivance with Maoists who are hiding in the jungles of Chattisgarh under Public Security Act. As per the Public Security Act he will not be able to apply for a bail.
Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) is ruling the state of Chattisgarh. The saffron party is constantly demanding the UPA government to bring back the draconian Act POTA (Prevention Of Terrorists Activities Act). As per the dreaded Act the government can arrest and put into prison without any trial anybody who are not willing to toe its line. Instances are many. Those who had undergone punishment under POTA shudder to hear the very name of that draconian Act. Such were the cruelties perpetrated on them by the erstwhile BJP government at the Centre.
Dr.Sen used to visit the Maoists in the Chattisgarh jails frequently to treat their diseases and for seeking their welfare. These frequent visits by Dr.Sen and his empathetic approach to the ailing Maoists were seriously watched by the prison authorities. They mistook him for a Maoist. Is it a crime to show pity on the poor people languishing in jails?
Human rights violations are not new in India. Gujarat, Jammu&Kashmir, Assam and Manipur are all victims of the human rights violations. Inorder to be rewarded and also for snatching promotion and to enter the good books of the authorities so many innocent Kashmiri’s were ruthlessly shot. In the name of “Encounter Killings” many civilians were brutally executed. We are very well aware of the public anger spread across Jammu&Kasmir against the notorious “Ganderbal Killings”. In 2002, after the Godhra incident, around two thousand muslims were cruelly massacred by the Hindu fanatics with the concurrence of the then ruling party. The killings of Sorabuddin and his wife Kausar Bhi sent shock waves across the country.
In Manipur, an activist Erom Sharmila is on fast unto death for the last seven years. Our government has turned a deaf ear to the demand for the repealing of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Provision Act). It is another black act. The Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission appointed by our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into the pros and cons of repealing the act submitted his report recommending the repeal of AFSPA. Approximately three years have elapsed since then. Unfortunately the government is still sitting on it without initiating any measures.
Dr.Binayak Sen has been awarded “Jonathan Mann Award” for his human rights activities in India. The government has not given permission to him to fly to Washington to accept the Award. Human rights activists in India and abroad requested the government to allow him to go to USA for accepting that Award.
India is a democratic country. It is the world’s largest democracy, it is said. It is a pity that our rulers cater to the elite among us and all others are left in the lurch. It is quiet painful and at the same time surprising that the leftist parties in our country especially the CPI and CPM are keeping mum on the Binayak Sen issue. Prakash Karat and A.B.Bardhan , veteran leaders of CPI(M) and CPI have not yet uttered a word on this humanitarian issue. To rise in support of a human rights activist and to free him from the clutches of a draconian law is the need of the hour.
It is hightime for our leftist leaders to exert pressure on the government and see that Dr.Binyak Sen is released from the prison.
