Many of my readers would probably be mystified by my long silence, precisely at a time when a satyagraha has been underway in Raipur for the past few weeks, organized by Binayak's supporters from all over India. The fact is that my school work has been keeping me away from my blog. For the kind of work I do (administering the International Baccalaureate program at my school), this is a busier time than most others in the year, but several factors have coincided this year to make it even more demanding than in the past.
Let me start with thanking the organizers and activists of the Raipur Satyagraha who have managed to rescue Binayak from what was turning out to be a long descent down the memory hole. What has also led to a spurt in publicity recently have been comments and appeals in The Lancet (subscription required, but reprinted here) and The Guardian, including an appeal by UK based academics. These are the fruits of a visit to the UK by Binayak's wife Dr. Ilina Sen, herself an academic of some note, and Ms. Kavita Srivastava of the PUCL. They were able to speak at several higher educational institutions and managed to attract the kind of attention that followed the publication of the appeal of 22 Nobel laureates in 2007.
Thanks also to Nupur Basu, and to Nawaz Kotwal, the rapporteur for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, who has faithfully recorded all the sessions of the Raipur Sessions Court.Basu's article highlights the hypocrisy and double standards that enable thugs and rabble rousers like Varun Gandhi to get bail for hate speech against Muslims, while Binayak remains behind bars for nigh on two years for highlighting the abuses of the state. Kotwal reminds the readers of Tehelka about the colossal miscarriage of justice that Binayak's trial represents.
Our mother Anasuya Sen participated in the Raipur Satyagraha despite her eighty two years, marching with the activists from Bhopal and elsewhere to court arrest, and singing Tagore's "Ami bhoy korbo na bhai korbo na" ("I will not fear, I will not fear") to inspire the crowds that had gathered for the occasion. She seems to have passed beyond the stage when the sight of Binayak would reduce her to tears. With each passing month, she seems to have become more radicalized and angry in her political views - a strange but completely understandable development for someone of her age. She even tried to chat up one of the police women accompanying the demonstration, and to persuade her to join the stayagrahis, not with much success. Here she is - the woman in white - singing among the satyagrahis.
And here is Binayak, shorn of his beard, looking pretty much as he looked about thirty six years ago when he and Ilina were married - without the receding hairline, of course.
Here is a detailed report of the trial hearing at the Raipur Sessions Court, thanks to Dr. Mira Sadgopal, an old friend of Binayak's and an associate of the Medico-Friends' Circle of which (if I'm not mistaken) she and Binayak were among the founding members.
17th-20th March 2009
Mira Sadgopal
At the 35th Annual Meet of MFC near Bongaigaon, Assam, in January 2009, we decided that at least two members of MFC should attend the monthly court hearing in support of Dr. Binayak Sen at Raipur. Anant Phadke is co-ordinating this and he himself attended the court in January. Shridhar and Dhruv Mankad attended in February. In March, Sabu George and I were present at the hearing. Each time a report is given on the MFC egroup.
The hearing's first day on 17th March followed the initial bout of the 'Raipur Satyagraha' on March 16th, a planned demonstration of civil disobedience to continue every Monday in over coming months. Details can be found at <www.raipursatyagra ha.wordpress. com>. A number of persons, who either supported or participated in the satyagraha and courted arrest for the release of Dr. Sen, also attended the court hearing on the 17th. These were Anand Patwardhan (film-maker, Mumbai), Ashim Roy and Rakhi Sehgal (New Trade Union Initiative, New Delhi), M.H. Gandhi (Ahmedabad), Sandeep Pande (Aasha Parivar, Lucknow), Satya Sivaraman (film-maker, New Delhi) and Sajjad Hussein (a Kashmiri student currently studying Human Rights at Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi). Ilina Sen was also present.
Prior to the start of the court proceedings there was an interesting occurrence. At exactly 11am, Judge Balwinder Singh Saluja came into the courtroom. Seeing all of us sitting there, he instructed the police inspector to take us out and record our names etc. Anyone about whom the police are suspicious might not be allowed in the court, he said. The inspector took us into a side room and asked us one by one for details (name, address, cell phone number) which he wrote in a diary. Then he said only close relatives of the accused are allowed inside the court. Sabu and Rakhi protested that this is an open court and there is no such rule for restricting the public. Only, as the judge had told us, if the police suspect any of us there could be a restriction. Then he said he suspects Gandhi and Sajjad as they are from Gujarat and Kashmir (and implying, obviously they are Muslims). We said we could vouch for them and asked him to let the judge pronounce on this. Back inside the court he complained to the judge. We insisted that Sajjad and Gandhi would stay with us. Given our persistence, the judge asked the inspector to give his objections in writing, which apparently ended the matter. At this time Ilina entered the court.
Binayak and co-accused Narayan Sanyal and Piyush Guha were brought into the court room around 12 noon along. It was a surprise to see him clean-shaven without his familiar long beard. He looked glad to see so many and varied supporters at the hearing. All three witnesses brought into the court on this day related to the allegations against Sanyal. Witness #1 was a police officer from Andhra Pradesh, #2 was an officer of the Chhattisgarh police and #3 a person named Gopanna. Just before closure, Binayak sought the judge's attention, saying, "You are not deciding on my plea for health care. I need urgent medical investigation. .. I am suffering from chest pain (angina) and hypertension. Last month I requested permission to be diagnosed and treated at a hospital of my choice." Thereupon the judge replied sharply, "On what basis are you saying that I am not doing anything about it. I passed an order on your plea." Binayak said he was unaware of any such response. After this the judge sharply remarked, "Whatever else you have to say, submit it in writing." He then closed the session at 2 pm.
On the 18th Sabu and I were joined by Jacob from Jan Swasthya Sahyog, Bilaspur. Before it began, Binayak apologised to the judge for his 'outburst' the day before, saying it was only because he is anxious about his health. This was acknowledged. Witness #1, a member of the Chhattisgarh police, again referred to Narayan Sanyal's case. In the following interval, the judge asked Binayak details about the doctor whom he wishes to see, etc. and proceeded to write out a fresh order. Then after a short while all three accused were taken back to the police van and we were told that the arrival of witness #2 was delayed. Outside each of us was able to talk with Binayak through the grilled window - for me it was the first time in four visits to Raipur since his arrest. He asked about the people who had come the day before and the satyagraha on the 16th. After a further lapse of time, Witness #2 arrived - I was surprised to recognise Shoma Sen, a senior lecturer in a women's college in Nagpur. Her train had been delayed. All returned to the court room, but as lunch hour was to begin we were told to come back by 2:45 pm. Meeting after more than a decade, Shoma and I found a quiet place to talk over a bite of lunch.
As Shoma occupied the witness stand, gross errors in her name (attached with an alias she never had) and age (38 years instead of 50) were found in the police statement. She was interrogated regarding a letter of hers found in her husband's possession when he was arrested in Patna in 2007 (as she had separately explained to me) on charges of naxalite involvement from nearly thirty years ago. She acknowledged that this was in fact her letter. Writing it in 2005, along with news of herself and their daughter, she had mentioned Binayak's name and appreciated his role in the investigation of the Khairlanji incident (Bhandara Dt.., Maharashtra) which she had organised on behalf of PUCL and the Nagpur based Committee Against Violence On Women. She had also mentioned Binayak's concern at the time to investigate prison conditions in response to a letter from a prisoner reporting a particular unsafe and inhumane situation. The reception of the court - judge and each of the lawyers - was respectful and my impression is that, rather than implicating Dr. Sen as a naxalite colleague, the testimony has merely bolstered Binayak's role as a civil and human rights activist. The court was adjourned at about 4:25 pm as Sabu left to catch a flight back to Delhi.
On the 19th, I was alone in attending the hearing. There were only two witnesses. Interrogation of the first witness was largely complete before Binayak, Sanyal and Guha were brought into the court. This man was a police inspector from Rohtas (Patna Dt., Bihar) who described in great detail the circumstances around the arrest of Shoma Sen's husband (Tusharkanti Bhattacharjee) on 18th September 2007, alleging him to be a 'hard-core Maoist' and mentioning that in his possession was found the letter from his wife in which Dr. Sen is mentioned. The second witness was another police inspector from Bihar who had passed on the statements and photocopies of documents to the Chhattisgarh police. The testimony with the cross-examination appeared trivial to me. The court adjourned early at about 1 pm. Binayak's lawyer commented that the first witness was spurious, as Bhattacharjee' s is a separate case and Shoma Sen has acknowledged that the letter is hers.
On the 20th, again I was the only outsider in the court. When Binayak and the other co-accused entered, the judge spoke briefly to him about the matter of getting his medical examination done soon. Regarding the witnesses, on this day I'm not sure if there was more than one, as I had to leave early to catch my train. This was Arun Kumar Dubey, an assistant bank manager in Raipur who had rented part of his house to a person who was visited by Narayan Sanyal several times in 2006. He claimed that Binayak had come there twice with Narayan Sanyal. He identified both persons and their photographs (Binayak with beard), and said it was only later when he saw NS's photo in the paper that he realised his mistake in renting the place to such people. It was interesting to see Binayak's lawyer set out to dismember the witness's testimony and I greatly regretted having to leave at 1 pm before this process was finished.
According to the count given by Binayak's lawyer Mahendra Dube, the last witness was #67 presented in court so far, of a total of 125 listed. About 20 of those have already been canceled. He expects that in all only around 80 witnesses may be interrogated before the trial goes for deliberation. The dates of the next hearing, re-adjusted to avoid Chhattisgarh' s election dates, are April 24th, 25 th and 27th (Friday, Saturday and Monday). Any MFC member who is able to be there on any or all of these dates should inform Dr. Anant Phadke anant.phadke@ gmail.com. Keep in mind the satyagraha on that Monday.
There is little new to say about Binayak's case. The travesty of justice continues, with not a single witness for the prosecution corroborating a single charge. Binayak's health continues to deteriorate while the state continues with its dilatory obfuscations to prolong his imprisonment. Every passing day that he is kept in jail reduces further the credibility of the state as a law-abiding actor in the polity of India. Yet such is the degree of impunity that the executive enjoys that perhaps the only sane response is to make a joke of it. In a brilliant April Fool's joke, Raman Singh is reported as tendering his resignation in a fit of remorse over his wrongful imprisonment.
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