Decision Left To HC, Activist To Challenge Life Term On Jan 24
New Delhi: Foreign observers are keen to keep a close watch on the Chhattisgarh High Court’s hearing on rights activist Binayak Sen’s appeal against life sentence on Monday.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has forwarded to the Chhattisgarh government a request from an eight-member European Union (EU) delegation to be allowed to view the proceedings in Bilaspur on January 24. Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh has moved the Centre’s request to the HC, leaving it to the judiciary to take a decision on whether the foreign observers can sit in on the proceedings.
Sen, a doctor by profession, had been sentenced to life imprisonment on sedition charges by a trial court after the prosecution claimed that he carried letters between a cadre and leaders of banned Maoists, who are fighting against the state in at least nine states, including Chhattisgarh.
The MEA letter said it has “received a request from the European Union delegation in India seeking assistance in facilitating an observer mission, including representatives of Delhi-based diplomatic missions from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, the UK and the EU, to attend the hearing relating to Dr Binayak Sen on January 24 at Chhattisgarh High Court”.
The foreign delegates are scheduled to arrive in Raipur on Sunday evening.
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