Friends and supporters of Binayak Sen today celebrated the jailed rights activist's 61st birthday in New Delhi by launching a campaign to feed the homeless during this winter.
Friends and supporters of Binayak Sen today celebrated the jailed rights activist's 61st birthday in New Delhi by launching a campaign to feed the homeless during this winter.
A group of doctors and health activists also launched the India chapter of the Physicians for Human Rights and chose to offer the honorary chairmanship of the grouping to the imprisoned physician-activist.
At a press conference in New Delhi, activists of Free Binayak Sen Campaign and Indo-Global Social Service Society said that they were initiating a movement to feed the homeless for this month by collecting foodgrains.
"There are around 500 people who have taken shelter in tents erected near Nigambodh Ghat in north Delhi. We will be collecting foodgrains from people and serving the homeless people three meals a day this month," Indu Prakash Singh, an activist, said.
Satya Sivaraman, another activist, said they hope to continue the programme even after January if they get more foodgrains from the people. He also said protests, lectures and other programmes will be held in the capital to educate people about issues of health and malnutrition, which were close to the heart of Sen.
"The initiative is part of a larger campaign calling for the immediate release of Sen. It is also meant to bring public attention on the issue of malnutrition among India's poorest communities which Sen, along with other public health workers, have been highlighting for many years," Singh said.
Doctors and health activists from across the country also came together on a platform to form the Physician for Human Rights-India (PHR), an arm of an international forum.
In a statement, the PHR said they strongly convey their dismay at the imprisonment of Sen and called for dropping of charges against him.
Sen, Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha were sentenced to life imprisonment in December by a court in Raipur for sedition and colluding with Maoists to establish a network to fight the State.
Sen, 58, a paediatrician by training and vice-president of People's Union of Civil Liberties, had been accused of acting as courier for Sanyal, who was in jail, by carrying his messages and letters to the underground Maoists.
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