I last posted on Dr Binayak Sen nearly a year ago, when Tehelka featured him on their cover. Nothing much has happened in a year except that his health is suffering and the vindictive Chattisgarh administration is denying him a doctor of his choice.
This is a few days late, but former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer has written an excellent letter to our Prime Minister on the case. The thing is, Manmohan Singh is an intelligent, well-informed and (reputedly) upright man, so I don't believe that he is unaware of the case or ignorant of its implications. So why hasn't he said anything yet? He has spoken repeatedly on the dangers of the Naxalite movement. But does he believe that imprisoning social workers and human rights activists, while giving tickets to the likes of Jagdish Tytler, is the way to improve democracy and quell Naxalite violence?
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There is an article in today's Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/25/stories/2009042554792400.htm
Rahul banerjee mentions this case and similar ones in his book "Recovering the lost tongue: The saga of environmental struggles in Central India;
Someone I know happened to confront Manmohan Singh about this.But his precise words were, "I don't know why the man is still in jail". And MK Narayanan who was at the venue continued to assert that Binayak Sen was a maoist.
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