Protest against Dr. Vinayak Sen's unlawful arrest on Wednesday, May 14 in Pune
अभिजित Abhijit
PROTEST DHARNA AND RALLY AGAINST
Dr. BINAYAK SEN' S UNLAWFUL DETENTION
FOR THE LAST ONE YEAR
and Against all draconian laws which are threatening democracy in India
Program: Dharna Time: 4.30 - 6.30 pm
Venue: Sambhaji Park main gate
Protest March Time: 6.30 - 7.30 pm
Route: Sambhaji Park - Senapati Bapat
Statue, Alka Talkies, Deccan.
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2007 (anniversary of Dr. Sen's arrest)
Dr. Binayak Sen, paediatrician, public health professional and civil
liberties activist (PUCL) has been in jail since his arrest on May
14, 2007, that is, one year ago. He was arrested under the draconian
Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA) under false
charges that he has waged war against the state and that he has
supported Maoists.
Who is Dr. Sen?
Dr Binayak Sen, alumnus of the Christian Medical College ,Vellore, has
devoted a lifetime to the healthcare of the tribal population of
Chhattisgarh. Along with the legendary trade union leader Shankar Guha
Niyogi, in the late 1970s, he founded the Shaheed Hospital in the
mining town of Dalli Rajhara, an institution that till today
continues to provide accessible and rational health care to the
people in general and to mine workers in particular. For the last
fifteen years, Dr Sen has worked in a remote tribal areas treating
those afflicted with chronic malnutrition, endemic malaria and other
infectious diseases. He has contributed immensely to the public health
field in Chattisgarh. He has also worked on issues of food and
livelihood security, and has been the general Secretary of the State
Unit of the Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), as well as the
National Vice Resident of the organization. In this latter capacity
he has been a vociferous critic of police excesses carried out by an
unaccountable state , and of the state sponsored 'Salwa Judum' in
Chhattisgarh (a group of youth who are illegally provided arms by the
state in the name of self-defence from the naxalites) that has led to
near civil war conditions in large parts of southern Chhattisgarh.
Along with Salwa Judum the government has burnt adviasi villages and
has ghettoed people in so called 'camps' in the pretext of protecting
them from Maoists. Camps have been virtual prisons for tribals
without any freedom to move out and have to live on the meager ration
ration provided for them by the police. This has led to malnutrition
and death especially among women and children. Armed youth of the
Salwa Judum have indiscriminately brutalized and killed adivasis
saying they are supporters of Maoists. The only "crime" of Dr. Sen
is that he relentlessly exposed these atrocities!
Dr. Sen's incarceration is all the more unjustified because on 31
March this year, the Supreme Court has also expressed its disapproval
of the formation of the 'Salwa Judum' by the Chhattisgarh government
and giving them arms to tackle the naxal menace. This is precisely the
criticism made by Dr. Sen of Salwa Judum, for which he was charged
with colluding with Naxalites and arrested by Chattisgarh Govt.
Dr Sen has earlier received the Paul Harrison Award from his alma
mater for his contributions to 'redefining health care in a broken
society', and the RR Keithan Gold Medal from the Indian Academy of
Social Sciences for 'a fresh and radical interpretation of
Gandhiji's core concerns..'. He has recently received the prestigious
2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights from the
Global Health Council (to be awarded on 29th May, 2008).
All over the country, human rights violations by the state authorities
directly or with the tacit support of the state have increased sharply
in the recent past. The minority communities, the tribals, Dalits,
women, sexual minorities, the farmers who agitate against the SEZ,
those who work for communal harmony have been the target of violence.
The human rights activists/defenders too have been targeted by the
state machineries in various ways.
Pledge and Demand:
§ WE PLEDGE TO WORK AND STRUGGLE FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ALL,
ESPECIALLY THE MARGINALISED AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
§ WE DEMAND THAT DR. BINAYAK SEN BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY
§ WE DEMAND THAT THE STATE SHOULD RESECT AND PROTECT THE HUMAN
RIGHTS ACTIVISTS AND DEFENDERS AND STOP INTIMIDATING THEM.
We call upon all of you who are concerned with the increasing
violation of human rights by the various state governments and Central
government to join us in this protest, which is being organised
simultaneously in many cities all over the country. It is actually an
attack on all human rights activists and all socially concerned
citizens, whom the state is threatening that they can be locked up
under fictitious charges if they protest police atroicities too much.
Let us not forget the famous German poet Pastor Niemollar, who was
imprisoned by Hitler in 1937 in the Dachau concentration camp.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left
to speak out for me.
by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
Looking forward to having you with us on May 14 evening. Do get your
friends along. The program is being organised by a number of
progressive organisations of Pune. Lokayat is a part of the organising
committee.
A pamphlet in Marathi on Dr. Binayak Sen and some more information
about him in English are attached for those of you who are interested.
Abhijit