My faith in judiciary shattered, says Binayak Sen's wife

New Delhi, Jan 4 (ANI): Slamming the judgment of a Raipur Additional Sessions and District Court, which sentenced human rights activist Binayak Sen to life imprisonment on grounds of sedition and entering into a criminal conspiracy, his wife Ilina Sen has said her faith in the judiciary had been shattered.

At a press conference here on Monday, she said she is in a state of shock and it was her stupidity that she believed that the judicial process would be fair to her husband.

"Definitely my belief in the judiciary has shaken but still I would like to go on with my trust in the system and with that belief, I would move to the High Court and I hope that I would get justice," she added.

She further said: " The judiciary and the police of Chhattisgarh state are working together and the judgment delivered is based on a fixed perception.

"The judiciary and the police are seen to be working very closely together. In fact the public prosecutor's arguments in court, I mean there are parts of the judgment, which seems like repetition of that. I am sorry to say but that is not the function of a judge. The judge is supposed to make an independent assessment and this kind of judgment that is based entirely on perception and a certain mind set is not at all a good signal for India's democracy," she added.

She further said her husband Dr. Sen was arrested because he started talking about the Salwa Judum (tribal militia), signing of several MoU to tap the mineral wealth of the state and rehabilitation of the Tribals.

Raipur Sessions Court on December 24 had held Dr Sen and three other people guilty of treason and waging war against the state. He has also been found guilty of sedition.

Dr Sen was arrested in Chhattisgarh in 2007 and was granted bail two years later. He was honoured with Jonathan Mann award in 2008, while he was still in prison.

Sen is a 58-year-old paediatrician and public health physician with a 25-year record of providing health care to the Adivasi people of Chhattisgarh.

A graduate of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Binayak Sen was one of the top students of his batch. He completed his post graduation in paediatrics in the early 1970s. For most of the years since then, he has devoted his life to health care of the poor. (ANI)