High Court lets EU delegates in as Sen hearing begins

ABVP protests against delegation for interfering in the functioning of judiciary; Jethmalani says case of no evidence

A Delegation of European Union (EU) observers was on Monday allowed by the Chhattisgarh High Court to watch the proceedings on rights activist Dr Binayak Sens appeal against his conviction and life sentence on charges of sedition.

When Sens appeal came up for hearing,a division bench comprising Justices T P Sharma and R L Jhanwar considered the reference on the EU proposal made to it by the state government and decided to allow the eight-member team to attend the proceedings.

The EU teams request to be present in court was earlier sent by the External Affairs Ministry to the Chhattisgarh government,which had in turn,referred the matter to the High Court.

The eight-member delegation comprised Peter Kimpian (Hungary),Raphael Martian De Lagarde (France) Alexandra Berg von Linde (Sweden),Florian Burkhardt (Germany),Jochen Anthierens (Belgium),Iain Twigg (UK),Louise de Brass (Denmark) and Anne Vaugier-Chatterjee (EU).

Appearing for Sen,senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani argued that It was a case of no evidence. Initiating the arguments on Sen’s appeal against his conviction by the trial court and application for bail,Jethmalani told the Bench that the trial court had simply relied on the police version as the evidence produced by the prosecution was not sufficient for such a conviction.

Pressing for Sen’s bail,Jethmalani pointed out that the rights activist was neither a member of any banned organisation,nor had he participated in illegal activities.

Dr Sen did not commit sedition,either in words,written or in any other manner,to spread hatred against the government. Besides,not a single document seized qualifies to be linked with sedition charges, he argued.

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On the charge that Sen had carried a letter from jailed Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal to underground Maoists,he said: They (prosecution) planted one document… otherwise there is no other document that implicates him. So,this is a useless case (and) government should withdraw it.

He said Sen,a doctor by profession,had met Sanyal 32 times in Raipur Jail and once in Bilaspur Jail to advise the Naxalite ideologue,now 67,on medical issues.

The arguments will continue in the High Court on Tuesday.

Meanwhile,a group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) workers took out a protest demonstration raising slogans against the EU delegations observer mission,describing it as an interference in the functioning of independent judiciary. They also raised slogans against Jethmalani for agreeing to defending Sen.

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Not charging a single penny
BILASPUR: While defending rights activist Dr Binayak Sen,senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Monday told the Chhattisgarh High Court he was not charging any fee in the case. I am making it clear. Neither me nor my juniors are charging a single penny for appearing in this case, he said.