Civil rights activist Binayak Sen, recently freed on bail by the Supreme Court in a sedition case, has been honoured with the 2011 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, South Korea's most prestigious award for those working on peace, democracy and justice in Asia. The award was announced yesterday by 2011 Gwangju Prize Committee in Seoul. The prize, which carries a sum of USD 50,000 is awarded each year on May 18 --...

"We cannot have two Indias. You want the world to believe we are the strongest emerging economy, but millions of poor and hungry people are a stark contrast," the Supreme Court said on Wednesday pointing to a huge gap between poverty eradication measures and spread of the problem. The court's anguish was palpable. A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma asked the government why additional subsidised food grains be...

Indian public health expert and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen has been freed, after the Supreme Court granted him bail last week. Dr Sen was released from a prison in the central state of Chhattisgarh on the condition that he would surrender his passport and attend court whenever he was summoned. In December a court in Chhattisgarh sentenced him to life in prison for helping Maoist rebels. Mr Sen has denied the...

“I know in my heart that I never betrayed the people of this country” At 7 O'clock on a sultry Monday evening, human rights activist and paediatrician Binayak Sen walked out of the Raipur Central Jail and into the arms of his daughters Aparajita and Pranhita. “I know in my heart that I never betrayed the people of this country,” Dr. Sen said soon after he was released on bail,...

Civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen is set to be released from a jail in Raipur today. Sen's release comes after the Supreme Court granted him bail last week, striking down charges of sedition levelled against him by the Chhattisgarh government. He had been accused of colluding with Naxalites and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition. The court had observed that there was no evidence against Sen and that no case...