Tarique Anwar, BeyondHeadlines
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing on the bail plea of rights activist Binayak Sentill April 15. Binayak has been sentenced to life imprisonment for colluding with Maoists. The ruling came after the Chhattisgarh Government sought time to brief its lawyer.
Sen, 61, had challenged the February 10 order of the Chhattisgarh High Court rejecting his bail plea.
A bench of Justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad deferred the hearing on the plea of Chhattisgarh government which had been directed on March 11 to submit within four weeks its response to the bail application of Sen.
61-year-old Sen is serving life term in a jail in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur after he was sentenced by a trial court there Dec 24, 2010 for sedition and for his links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata-based businessman Piyush Guha. Both of them have also been awarded life terms. is serving life term in a Chhattisgarh jail following his conviction on charges of sedition and links with Maoists.
He had moved the apex court challenging the Chhattisgarh High Court order rejecting his bail plea on February 10.
A doctor and a pass-out of the prestigious Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Sen sought bail contending that the trial court has erred in convicting him when there was no substantial evidence.
Opposing Sen’s bail plea, the state government in its affidavit had stated that the activist should not be granted any relief as he has deep links with hardcore Naxalites.
“He (Sen) provides active support and co-ordinates in spreading the base of CPI (Maoist) in the country. Apart from providing logistic support, he exchanges information and material directly and indirectly with the Naxalites in the area of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa and propagates Naxal ideology,” the affidavit filed by the state government said.
According to the state government, Sen helped Naxal leaders in arranging accommodation in Raipur and through his wife Elina Sen also helped open bank accounts of hardcore Naxalites Shankar Singh and Amita Shrivastava.
