Company Name : Generic Source : New Kerala

 

Bhopal, Jan 20 : More than 150 survivors of the Union Carbide disaster and people exposed to ground water contaminated by Union Carbide's hazardous waste in Bhopal Thursday marched with torches (mashaal) demanding immediate release of philanthropist Dr. Binayak Sen who was sentenced for life for alleged Maoist connections.

 

The four organizations leading the march from Yadgar-e-Shahajahani Park to Neelam Park condemned the Dec 24, 2010 order of the Additional Sessions Judge, Raipur that

sentenced Dr. Binayak Sen, a human rights worker and paediatrician, along with Mr. Narayan Sanyal and Mr. Pijush Guha to life imprisonment calling it "a blatant travesty of justice".

 

Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that the sentence against Dr. Sen, who has spent his entire life amongst the poor, raising issues of rampant poverty and state-sponsored exploitation, and who protested against state repression and brutal genocidal campaigns like Salwa Judum, is a farce in the name of justice.

 

Remembering Dr. Sen's support to the cause of the Bhopal victims, Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said that "If Dr. Sen is guilty of sedition, so are we."

 

She expressed hope that the High Court of Chhattisgarh would reverse the judgment and free Dr. Sen who is languishing in jail.

 

Balkrishna Namdeo, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha said that India's already dented credentials as a democracy and an upholder of human rights would be irreversibly damaged if the sentence against Dr. Sen is not quashed on Jan 24, when the matter is placed before the High Court of Chhattisgarh.