When Dr Binayak Sen was still in prison, noted film maker Anand Patwardhan wrote an article describing Dr Binayak Sen as the prisoner of conscience. Given the circumstances that led to his arrest it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him so. It has been a week since his release and all over the world the human rights activists are elated that the two year old ordeal has ended for this man who worked for no hidden agenda other than the agenda of peace.
This country is not unknown for illegal arrests of citizens who dared to speak against the state. As admitted by Dr Sen himself there are hundreds of such heroic souls languishing in the corners of jails throughout the world. The gross human rights violations, perpetrated by the State, would have gone unnoticed but for these noble men and women who risked their lives to expose such abuses.
Dr Sen has repeatedly said that he is not a Naxal sympathizer. In an interview which he gave while he was still in jail, he makes it clear that he doesn’t endorse violence whether by the State or the Naxals. Again in another interview which he gave after his release from the jail, he says that he was targeted by the State government primarily for criticizing the Salwa Judum and encounter deaths. A clear mismatch between the crime and punishment!
Indeed Dr Sen’s release is a victory to the organizations that speak out against the human rights violations perpetrated by the state but it remains to be seen whether this would put an end to state’s excesses in the name of putting an end to Naxalism!
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