Binayak Sen appeals Maoists to free collector

Human Rights Activist Dr. Binayak Sen on Monday appealed to CPI (Maoists) to release the Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon's ‘unconditionally’ and ‘as soon as possible’.

Releasing a handwritten press note from his present stay in Kolkata, Dr. Sen also appealed that Alex “should be maintained unharmed until his release. A doctor by profession, who upheld Hypocrite’s oath, urged that “all medical facilities be extended to him”.

The Vice President of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) Dr. Sen said the issues in the region cannot be resolved in an atmosphere of violence and militarisation.

He mentioned, “The {UCL has repeatedly asserted that no resolution of the issue in the region can possibly be arrived at an atmosphere of violence and militarization, whether the violence comes from the state forces or forces opposing the state.”

He wrote, “Cessation of armed conflicts and withdrawal of militarization” as the only way for ‘restoration of peace and well-being of the people in the region’.

Sen had to face state repression in Chhatisgarh and spent months behind the bars. Chhatisgarh Government charged him as ‘Maoist’ and level allegation of ‘sedition’ against him. Finally, 61 year Dr Sen was granted bail by the Supreme Court without ‘showing any reason’ for the bail, but observed, ‘even if he is a Naxal sympathizer, it does not makes him guilty of sedition’.

The Maoists have set April 25 as deadline for the government to release release eight of their jailed associates in Chhattisgarh in exchange for the collector's freedom.