The Trial of Binayak Sen

Author(s): JYOTI PUNWANI

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , DECEMBER 25-31, 2010, Vol. 45, No. 52
(DECEMBER 25-31, 2010), pp. 21-23
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27917957

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COMMENTARY

the same charges: that of having con

The Trial of Binayak Sen spired at any of six different places (sic) to
wage war against the state, and of being
members of or contributed funds to or
jyoti punwani assisted the work of an illegal organisation.

Evidence?
The trial of one of the most celebrated
Human rights activist Binayak
What was the evidence to support these
political prisoners in recent times
Sen spent two years in jail before
has just ended. Going throughcharges?
the The prosecution alleged that Sen
being granted bail. Charged with
trial proceedings makes one laugh at
hadthe
passed on letters from Narayan Sanyal,
sedition, waging war against kind of evidence the Chhattisgarh whom
policehe used to meet in Raipur Central
the Indian state, as well as have managed to gather against Binayak
Jail, to Piyush Guha, to be sent "out".
These
Sen; but the human rights activist spent
being a Maoist supporter, both twoletters were allegedly found on
Guha when he was arrested. However,
years in jail on the basis of this evidence,
under normal laws and under
charged with sedition, waging war against
jailor after jailor testified that there was
the Chhattisgarh Special Public
the State, as well as being a Maoist
no sup
way Sanyal could have handed over
anything to Sen in jail because Sanyal's
Security Act and the Unlawful porter, both under normal laws and under
the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security
Activities Act, the evidence has visitors were not only searched before and
Act (cspsa) and the Unlawful Activities
after meeting him, but all Sanyal's meet
been full of discrepancies and(Prevention) Act (uapa). The international
ings with visitors were held under strict
contradictions on material points.
clamour for his release, with Nobel Laure
supervision. Not only could the jailors see
The trial has just concluded atates
thejoining in, had no effect on eitherSen and Sanyal during the meeting, they
our
could
highly educated prime minister or the peralso hear their conversation, which
sessions court in Raipur.
son who appointed him, the supposedly
they testified, centred on the 74-year-old
liberal Congress Party president who sur health, his case, and his family.
Sanyal's
rounds herself with some of the country's
When asked if they had been pulled up for
leading intellectuals. Even the Supreme
carelessness in monitoring Sanyal, the jail
Court rejected his bail application thestaff
firstsaid no. Two jailors were declared
time, with no reasons being given. hostile by the prosecution.
Binayak Sen made news when he wasThe in prosecution could not prove that
Senbail
jail, but soon after he was released on ever met Guha. The hotel owner and
manager, in whose hotels the police al
by the Supreme Court (again, no reasons
given) he faded away from media focus.
leged the two would meet, told the court
that they had never seen Sen or anyone
But his trial continued. Had it been report
ed regularly, the country would have
come to meet Guha. The prosecution de
clared them hostile. Thus the triangle
known the nature of the evidence against
sought
him, and also about the ordinary men and to be established by the prosecu
women who stood up in court and insisted
tion - of Sen as the link between Sanyal
the police version was wrong. The and
com Guha - could not be established.
plete blackout of the trial throws light
It on
could be argued that witnesses normally
turn hostile in cases against Naxalites,
the functioning of the Chhattisgarh media,
which had gone to town when Senbeing was too scared of the latter to depose
arrested, proclaiming in banner headlines
against them. However, in Chhattisgarh's
cities, there is little evidence of Naxalite
his guilt by calling him a Naxali daakiya
(Naxalite postman). terror. On the contrary, be it Raipur or
Dantewada, this state has seen members
There is one more aspect of this episode
that needs to be highlighted: Sen's
of co
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and
accused, the alleged "hardcore Naxalite"
the opposition Congress gang up to boot
Narayan Sanyal, and businessman Piyush
out anyone suspected of being a Naxalite
This article was written before the judgment of
Guha, were denied bail and remained in
sympathiser, even Gandhians and scientists.
the sessions court, Raipur.
The police have of course taken the lead
custody all this time. The evidence against
Jyoti Punwani (jyotlpunwani@gmailxom) is a did not inspire confidence either.
them in targeting those they label "Naxalite
Mumbai-based freelance journalist and human
sympathisers". They did not allow aca
What were the specific charges against
rights activist. Sen? All three accused in the case faced
demics Nandini Sundar and Ujjwal Singh to

Economic & Political weekly 11353 december 25, 2010 vol xlv no 52 21

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meet people in Dantewada last December, substantiate its allegation, Sen's lawyer adivasis in a village adjoining the forest.
nor did they let an all-women's team reach Surendra Singh asked for permission to play This set of CDs made by Ajay was seized
Dantewada to join Gandhian Himanshu the video recording of the entire seizure, from Sen's house.
Kumar's peace march around the same shot by a professional videographer hired Sen's alleged Naxalite links were sought
time. If any terror exists in Chhattisgarh's by Sen's wife Ilina, with the permission of to be established through other material
cities, it is the terror of the police. the court. Summoned by Sen as a defence seized from his house - especially his com
Hence the ordinary men and women witness, the videographer told the court puter, wherein names of various persons
who disproved the police story against Sen that he had seen the police take away the were found, whom the police said were
in court - two hoteliers and one school Naxalites. The computer had details of
seized material in an open bag. However,
principal - were unlikely to have been act the judge Verma refused to allow the payments made to those working for
ing under fear of the Naxalites. And what video to be screened at that stage, even Rupantar, the non-governmental organi
of the jailors? What motivated them to after the special public prosecutor (spp) sation set up by Binayak Sen and his
deny the police version? challenged the authenticity of the cd. wife Ilina that works on issues of health
However, that same afternoon, the and biodiversity.
Fabricated Evidence? same judge allowed the spp to play a cd In his testimony, inspector Jagrit described
The prosecution had one more weapon which, claimed the prosecution, showed Rupantar as a Naxalite organisation run
against Sen, a "proof that needed no Sen talking to Naxalites in the jungle. In by the Sens, which did "urban network
eyewitnesses to validate it: a letter dated the witness box at that time was another ing" for the Naxalites. The Malti and Vijay
December 2005, ostensibly written by defence witness, documentary maker Ajay mentioned in the computer, said Jagrit,
Naxalites thanking him for his services in G, who had shot this particular video. were the same "Malti" and 'Vijay" known to
Chhattisgarh and hoping for similar serv Like the videographer, Ajay too main the police as Naxalites. An entry "Vijay-non
ices in Orissa. This unsigned letter, in the tained that he needed to see the cd before aa budget" was interpreted by Jagrit as
form of a computer printout, made a sud he could identify it. The judge allowed it being "codewords used by Naxalites". The
den appearance when a prosecution wit to be played, but refused to see it himself. defence explained Malti Jadhav and Vijay
ness was deposing, a man who claimed to However, the cd could not be played and had worked for Rupantar, and that "non
have been called by the police to witness hence remained unidentified. aa budget" meant "non-Action Aid budget".
their search of Sen's house. Ajay G told the court that he had Incidentally, as pointed out by the defence,
Unlike the other documents seized from filmed Sen and advocate Holaram Prajap Rupantar continues to get funds from both
the house, this letter had neither Sen's ati talking to adivasis during a 2004 the central and the state governments!
signature nor that of the investigating People's Union for Civil Liberties (pucl) Then there is the case of Amita Srivastav,
officer, Rajpoot, who was part of the investigation into the killing of three declared to be an absconding Naxalite by
police search party, on it. It had instead
only the signatures of the two witnesses
the police claim were present during the
search. It is neither mentioned in the list
Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
of documents seized from Sen's house
(seizure memo) nor in the final report pre
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sented with the challan; nor in the list The digital versions of Economic and Political Weekly for 2004,2005,2006,2007 and 2008

given to the court's maaikhana where all are now available on a single disk. The CD-ROM contains the complete text of 261 issues
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research and utilities to make your browsing experience productive.The contents of the CD-ROM
ledge who found it or from where", the
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town inspector, S Jagrit told the court,
With its easy-to-use features, the CD-ROM will be a convenient resource for social scientists,
maintaining however, that it was found in
researchers and executives in government and non-government organisations, social and political
Sen's house. Both he and the investigation
activists, students, corporate and public sector executives and journalists.
officer had the same explanation as to why
Price for 5 year CD-ROM (in INDIA)
it had neither Rajpoot's nor Sen's signa
Individuals - Rs 1500
ture: "Either we forgot, or this paper got
Institutions - Rs 2500
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22 december 25, 2010 vol xlv no 52 Economic & Political wee

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the police. A woman by the same name More than one policeman testified that What is interesting also is the way po
was recommended by Ilina Sen to a local pucl members Sen, his wife Ilina and licemen deposed about Naxalites - giving
school which employed her. However, then general secretary Rajendra Sail, long accounts of their violent acts and the
when shown a photograph said to be of participated in meetings with Naxalites terror they create, their lack of belief in
the absconding Amita, the school princi in Chhattisgarh's jungles. Under cross any law and their desire to overthrow the
pal said she was not the person employed examination, they admitted this was just state at the point of a gun. Under cross
by her. The principal was declared hostile. hearsay. One policeman said that local examination, these policemen admitted
villagers had told him this, but he had not they had neither read Naxalite literature,
Hum PUCL Ko Dekh Lenge recorded their statements because it nor interacted with any of them.
The prosecution made a big deal about would have been dangerous for them! What could be the reason for such indif
Sen's visits to Sanyal in jail. But in cross ference? Did the police feel the accused
examination by Sen's counsel, Mahindra Discrepancies and Contradictions would not be able to get good lawyers? Or,
Dubey, the jailors admitted that all appli What is surprising is that in a case that that since the trial would not attract media
cations to meet Sanyal were made by attracted international attention and a trial attention, these discrepancies would never
Sen as a pucl office-bearer, on the pucl at which foreign observers were present come to light outside the court? Like every
letterhead, and that these meetings were (when Sen was in jail), the police per where else, in Chhattisgarh too, the police
allowed only after the local police had formed as sloppily as they do in any rou seem to have been pretty confident that
cleared them. tine case. The evidence was full of dis the press would not stray from the brief
Sanyal was not the only prisoner in crepancies and contradictions on material ings given to it.
whom Sen seems to have had an inordi points, be it the letters alleged to have What is frightening is that on such flimsy
nate interest. A prisoner from Balaghat been found on Piyush Guha's person (no evidence, the accused were deprived of
jail wrote directly to Sen for help; Sen mention of them have been made in the their liberty for three years (Sen for two
gave the letter to the local press. The arrest panchnamd), or the time and place years). Said Sen's advocate Mahendra
eveninger Chhattisgarh published it prom of his arrest (the affidavit filed in reply to Dubey, who cross-examined most of the
inently. When a prisoner from Bilaspur his bail application in the Supreme Court, witnesses: "With the most important pros
Central Jail sent an appeal to the Supreme mentioned it as Mahindra Hotel, the ecution evidence having been demolished,
Court, the jail authorities sent a copy to charge sheet in the case mentioned it as what's left? Just a list of supposedly in
Sen as pucl general secretary. This was a the busy station road in Raipur), the arrest criminating documents seized from his
month before his arrest. of Narayan Sanyal (two policemen testi house? Going by that, all scholars would
pucl, of which Sen is now currently na fied he had been arrested in Bhadracha go to jail." Advocate Surendra Singh, Sen's
tional vice-president, and state president, lam, but a prosecution witness told the senior counsel, who concluded the de
has played no small part in the proceed court he had been arrested from his house, fence arguments, saw this case as "an at
ings. IO Rajpoot stated in court that pucl only to admit in cross-examination that tempt to stifle any form of dissent".
worked for the Naxalites. Sen was arrest this was hearsay), or the spp's description That attempt seems to have succeeded;
ed in May 2007. As far back as January of the Indian Social Institute as Pakistan's few fact-finding teams have been allowed to
2006, then Chhattisgarh Director General isi. Bill books and registers were seized enter Dantewada in the last year, especially
of Police Rathore had declared to the from the two hotels in which Guha was after Operation Green Hunt was launched.
press: Hum pucl ko dekh lenge (we will said to have stayed, and remained in the Even established political parties such as
take care of pucl). That was a month after possession of the police since. Yet, in one the Communist Party of India (cpi) are
the Chhattisgarh pucl, under its general of the registers, an entry was made on a being targeted. Their leading activists are
secretary Binayak Sen, had investigated date after it was seized from the hotel. being arrested on false charges; when they
the brutal displacement of adivasis under The cd in which Sen is supposed to be organise protest rallies the adivasis going
Salwa Judum, the state-backed vigilante talking to Naxalites should have been a to these rallies are beaten, as happened in
movement that has drawn the Supreme crucial piece of evidence for the prose November. More such conduct will leave
Court's disapproval. cution. Yet, I O Rajpoot admitted that the field open to the police and the Maoists.
On 2 December 2005, pucl released its he had neither investigated who made But hope exists. Lawyers such as Sudha
preliminary report of a joint fact-finding the cd, nor did he know which village Bharadwaj continue fighting at the local
done in Dantewada, with other human it featured. level, and at the Supreme Court, Nandini
rights groups. It was an indictment of the Take the articles seized from Sen's house. Sundar and ex-cpi mla Manish Kunjam
Chhattisgarh adrninistration's role in setting Those in the possession of the prosecution, have not given up. The very fact that
up and running Salwa Judum camps, and produced in court, had the signatures of Binayak Sen, Narayan Sanyal and Piyush
the havoc this had wrought on the lives of Sen, inspector Rajpoot, and two police Guha could get lawyers who demolished
the adivasis there. All through 2006, pucl witnesses. Xerox copies of these docu the prosecution's version, in the capital of
statements against Salwa Judum and ments were sent to Sen - but, they did not a state where human rights is a dirty
against the newly-enacted cspsa were have the signatures of the two witnesses. word, is proof that the State has not made
published in the local press. What does this imply? cowards of all of us.

Economic & Political weekly CEC3 december 25, 2010 vol xlv no 52 23

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