SC bails out jailed activist

The dark days in solitary confinement for civil rights activist Binayak Sen ended on Monday with the Supreme Court granting him bail. A bench comprising justice Markandey Katju and justice Deepak Verma directed the immediate release of the 59-year-old doctor, who has spent more than two years in a Chhattisgarh jail on charges of colluding with naxalites.

Sen, who was arrested on May 14, 2007, and his family have steadfastly denied that he — a PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) activist who was detained under the stringent Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act — was in any way connected with the insurgents.

Two former Union law ministers — Shanti Bhushan and Ram Jethmalani — pleaded for Sen’s release. “The case against him has been demolished in the trial court as all the material witnesses in the case have been examined” and none of them deposed against him, Jethmalani had told the apex court.

Sen sought bail on medical grounds, saying he was suffering from a heart ailment and needed treatment. He submitted that since a charge-sheet against him had been filed, no purpose would be served by his continued detention.

Sen’s family was relieved that its long battle had ended. “Our family will be reunited now,” said his daughter Aparajita, a standard XII student in Mumbai. “The first thing I will do when he is out will be to sit with him and spend as much time as I can.”

Sen’s wife Ila said: “I am very happy that my personal ordeal is over. The judiciary has stood up for what is correct.”