Chhattisgarh director general of police (DGP), Mr Vishwaranjan, on Saturday disapproved of criticism of the recent court verdict sentencing rights activist Binayak Sen to life imprisonment for sedition, by a section of people, saying, “It is undemocratic and uncalled for”.
“In a democracy, everyone is free to place his view. But there are certain basic principles of democracy and we have to honour them,” he said while addressing newsmen on the New Year day at the state police headquarters here.
“It is not appropriate to pass comments on a court judgment. Instead of deriding a court verdict in public, the aggrieved persons should move the higher court for justice,” he observed.
This was the first time, a top level officer of Chhattisgarh government reacted officially to the bitter criticism of the life sentence awarded to the jailed rights activist by a local court here on December 24, by a section of academicians, legal luminaries and rights leaders across the country.
He also refused to react to the judgment, saying, “I will not comment.” The DGP strongly dismissed the allegations that a section of media in the state has been victimised for giving pro-Maoist coverage. “The Chhattisgarh government has never tried to gag the media. Had the police put restrictions on media, the press people in Maoist-infested Bastar region would not have been allowed to roam freely to interact with whoever they wanted,” he argued. Replying to a question on SC’s directive to vacate the schools of security personnel in insurgency-hit areas, the top cop said new buildings have already been established in these areas to run the schools.
The security personnel would not be evicted from the old schools, he said.