The wife of a police officer, who was killed in an encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday filed a petition in the state high court seeking the denial of bail to rights activist Binayak Sen.
Ranjana, wife of slain Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Choubey, submitted in her intervention petition that her husband was killed while fighting Naxals, She stated that if the 61-year-old, along with another convict Piyush Guha, was granted bail, it could lead to more such attacks.
A division bench comprising justices T P Sharma and R L Jhanwar observed that Ranjana could put forward her contention through the prosecution. Later, hearing on Sen's bail plea was adjourned till February 9.
The hearing in the case was witnessed by eight European Union observers who were allowed by the high court on Monday to attend the proceedings. Sen had earlier been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition.
Appearing for Sen, a People's Union for Civil Liberties activist, his lawyers Mahendra Dubey and Surendra Singh told the court that the evidence produced by the prosecution against his client in the trial court was based on hearsay and that such material could not be entertained under the law.
They contended that Sen's meetings with his co-convict and Naxalite ideologue Narayan Sanyal in jail were in connection with activities of the PUCL and that they were held under the vigil of jail guards. Moreover, Sen, a doctor by profession, was bodily searched each time he visited the jail. No incriminating document was found from him during the frisking, the lawyers said.
Noted lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Ram Jethmalani had appeared for Sen on Monday, but he was not present in the court on Tuesday.
Sen, along with Sanyal and Guha, a Kolkata businessmen, were sentenced by a sessions court on December 24 to life imprisonment for colluding with Maoists to establish a network to fight the state.
Jethmalani had on Monday told the high court, "My client is absolutely innocent. There is no case. The whole case is nothing but political persecution and legally it is a case of no evidence, not merely bad evidence, but no evidence."
Besides some PUCL activists, Sen's wife Ilina and two daughters also attended the proceedings.
Dubey, who also represented Guha, told the court that his client did not know who Sen or Sanyal were and had never met them. Therefore, accusing him of sedition was not right, he said.
