On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:19:52 +0530 [email protected] wrotePress Statement by Arundhati RoyIssued at the Raipur Satyagraha for the Release of Dr Binayak SenApril 6, 2009 Raipur, Chattisgarh____________________________________________________________Dr Binayak Sen has been in prison for 22 months, arrested under one ofIndias most draconian laws, the Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act.This Act has such a vague, diffused definition of Unlawful Activity thatit renders every person guilty unless he or she can prove their innocence.Dr Sens bail application was dismissed twice, both times at the veryoutset, by the High Court of Chattisgarh and by the Supreme Court of India.On neither occasion was there a discussion on the merits of the case. On the2nd of December 2008 the High Court of Chattisgarh once again turned downhis bail application, without a discussion on the merits of the case, sayingthat there had been no change in circumstances.But there has been a change in circumstances. To begin with, thecharge-sheet has been filed. 64 witnesses have been examined by theprosecution. Not one of them has provided legally admissible evidence tosupport the accusations in the charge-sheet. Even the jail officials, theSuperintendent and the Jailer, who were called as witnesses by theProsecution, have ruled out the possibility of Dr Sen being a carrier ofletters given to him by Narayan Sanyal (said to be a senior Maoist leader)who is a high security prisoner in Raipur Jail. (It should be mentioned herethat Narayan Sanyal has a medical condition which requires surgicalintervention from time to time, which is why the jail authorities permittedDr Sen to visit him regularly.)That Dr Sen should continue to be in prison when the case against him hasalmost completely fallen through says a great deal about the very gravesituation in Chattisgarh today. There is a civil war in this state. Hundredsare being killed and imprisoned. Hundreds of thousands of the poorest of thepoor are hiding in the forests, fearing for their lives. They have no accessto food, to markets, to schools or healthcare. The thousands who have beenmoved into the camps of the government-backed peoples militia, the SalwaJudum, are also trapped in sordid encampments, which have to be guarded byarmed police. Hatred, violence and brutality is being cynically spread,pitting the poor against the poorest.There is very little doubt that Dr Sen is in prison because he spoke outagainst this policy of the State Government, because he opposed theformation of the Salwa Judum. His incarceration is meant to silence dissent,and criminalize democratic space. It is meant to create a wall of silencearound the civil war in Chattisgarh. It is meant to absorb all our attentionso that the stories of the hundreds of other nameless, faceless people -those without lawyers, without the attention of journalists - who arestarving and dying in the forests, go unnoticed and unrecorded.Tomorrow is World Health Day. Dr Binayak Sen spent the best part of his lifeworking among the poorest people in India, who live far away from thegovernments attentions, with no access to clinics, hospitals, doctors ormedicines. He has saved thousands from certain death from malaria, diarrhea,and other easily treatable illnesses. And yet, he is the one in jail, whilethose who boast openly about mass murder are free to go about theirbusiness, and even stand for elections.What does this say about us? About who we are and where were going?Arundhati RoyAlso visit www.raipursatyagraha.wordpress.com-- Delhi ForumF-10/12 (GF), Malviya Nagar,New Delhi INDIA - 110017Phones: + 91-11-26671556 (Direct),26680914/883 Fax:26687724Emails: [email protected], [email protected]: http://updatecollective.wordpress.com/http://delhisolidaritygroup.wordpress.com/"Beware of the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip thecitizenry into patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edgedsword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And whenthe drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hateand the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rightsof the citizenry, [who] infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, willoffer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How will I know?For this I have done. And I am Julius Caesar."[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]------------------------------------Yahoo! 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