Binayak Sen to be released today

[1]

Civil rights activist Binayak Sen, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition by a Raipur court on December 24, is likely to be released today.

The apex court granted bail to Sen on Friday, saying the evidence on record proved there is no sedition case against Sen.

The apex court also observed that the mere possession of Naxal literature does not make a person a Naxalite, guilty of sedition, as one who possesses Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography cannot call himself a Gandhian.

An apex court bench of Justices H.S Bedi and C.K Prasad, which passed the order on the petition granting bail to Binayak Sen, saying the trial court would impose the condition of bail while ordering jail authorities to release him

Sen, 61, had challenged a Chhattisgarh High Court order that rejected his bail plea on February 10.

He sought bail contending that the trial court had erred in convicting him without substantial evidence.

Binayak Sen had filed a petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court on January 6, challenging a district and sessions court order that had convicted him on various charges, including sedition, and had sentenced him to life imprisonment.

A Raipur Sessions Court had on December 24 last year held Sen and three other people guilty of treason and for waging war against the state. He was also found guilty of sedition.

Sen was arrested in Chhattisgarh in 2007 and was granted bail two years later. Binayak Sen is a recipient of Jonathan Mann Award in 2008 while still in prison.