The campaign for Dr Binayak Sen

New Delhi: The crusade for Dr Binayak Sen is growing each day. Eighty intellectuals, including noted American political activist Noam Chomsky, have signed the following statement in protest: "Such an action on the part of the state... will inevitably raise the thought in the minds of many that an order within which the activities of a person like Dr Sen can be held to be seditious is not worth defending."

"I am ashamed belonging to the judiciary that any judge, even a Sessions judge, can pass such a ridiculous and uncalled for judgment. But can we be mute spectators to this intolerant atmosphere? Today it is Binayak Sen, tomorrow it can be any of us," former Supreme Court judge Rajendra Sachhar said.

At Jantar Mantar, the protests were led by Swami Agnivesh and writer and activist Arundhati Roy - both considered Naxal sympathisers by the government.

"Draconian laws like sedition should be repealed," Roy said.

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Dr Sen, an award winning paediatrician, has been working in the forests of Chhattisgarh treating tribals for decades. A local court has now given him life imprisonment finding him guilty of working with Naxals.

Activists say this is just the beginning and they are going to keep up the momentum in this case with several other protests and petitions lined up in the coming few months.

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