Is sentencing Binayak Sen a case of witch hunt?

GN Bureau | December 27, 2010



A Chhattisgarh court has slapped a life sentence on activist doctor Binayak Sen for his alleged ties with the Maoists. He has been found guilty for passing on letters to jailed extremists and helping some in opening bank accounts.

Maoism has emerged as the biggest internal security threat in recent years, and the state would be justified in dealing with Maoists as well as Maoist sympathisers in as stern a manner as they have been waging their war against it. However, a number of civil society leaders have pointed out that Sen is a social activists, not a Maoist sympathiser; he has explicitly condemned leftwing violence. Is his sentencing, then, a case of overreaction or a witch hunt? Or is he really guilty?

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