Renowned rights activist Binayak Sen has moved the Chhattisgarh high court challenging his conviction and the life sentence awarded to him by the Raipur additional district and sessions court on char-ges of sedition on December 24, his counsel Mahendra Dubey said on Thursday.
Mr Dubey filed a criminal appeal at the Chhattisgarh high court at Bilaspur, nearly 130 km from here, on Wednesday, pleading that the lower court’s verdict was wholly perverse as there were no sufficient material to establish Dr Sen’s involvement in any seditious activity.
“[The] Circumstantial evidence, which form the basis of the judgment, lack cohesion and arguments of the defence were ignored,” the petition said. The trial court failed to appreciate the evidence of the case in the correct legal perspective, the appeal said, explaining, “The lower court neither properly followed the procedure laid down for trial of criminal offences nor expla-ined the evidence adduced in accordance with law.”
The bail application will be moved after the division bench hearing the appeal received the records of the trial court, Mr Dubey said. Dr Sen was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Naxal-ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata-based businessman Pijush Guha after being convicted by additional district and sessions court judge B.P. Sharma of sedition and conspiracy.