Indian civil society was dismayed and horror-struck when human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen, who has spent over three decades caring for the poor in tribal areas of central India, was sentenced to life imprisonment for ‘sedition’ along with two others, Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal by a Raipur Sessions Court judge.  Protests are taking place everywhere in the country and the members of India’s vibrant civil society, peoples’ movements,...

A "typographical error" in a Chhattisgarh police affidavit before the Supreme Court could turn the location of a crucial arrest from Station Road to something as different as "Mahindra Hotel". Or so it seems from the controversial Raipur session's court verdict holding human rights activist Binayak Sen guilty of conspiracy to commit sedition. In it's December 24 judgment, the trial court overlooked the improbability of such a drastic change resulting from...

Last fortnight, the Supreme Court agreed allegations of misappropriation of NREGS funds in Orissa are not without basis. Debabrata Mohanty tracks the scheme and the controversy it is in: FACT HUNT In May-June 2007, the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) surveyed how an MGNREGS programme was being carried out in the 100 poorest villages of Orissa’s “hunger bowl” of KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) districts, as well as the districts of Nuapada, Nabarangpur...

Expressing shock over awarding of life sentence to rights activist Binayak Sen on charges of sedition, over 80 intellectuals including Noam Chomsky on Monday demanded that his appeal be heard "expeditiously" with "enlightened reason" and sought his immediate release on bail. They claimed that Sen never resorted to violence or incited anyone else to do so. On the contrary, as a doctor and a human rights activist he stood up in...

Expressing shock over awarding of life sentence to rights activist Binayak Sen on charges of sedition, over 80 intellectuals including, Noam Chomsky, today demanded that his appeal be heard 'expeditiously' with 'enlightened reason' and sought his immediate release on bail. They claimed that Sen never resorted to violence or incited anyone else to do so. On the contrary, as a doctor and a human rights activist he stood up in defence...