On May 24, 2009, public health and human rights activist Binayak Sen was finally granted bail, more than two years after he was arrested under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (2004).
Dr Sen was arrested on May 14, 2007. His bail application was dismissed on two occasions, first by the High Court of Chhattisgarh (in July 2007) and then by the Supreme Court (in December 2008). This time, he was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 100,000. It was also noted that he had a heart condition which needed medical attention.
The Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (2004), under which Binayak Sen was arrested, have been criticised for their potential to throttle free speech and legitimate dissent, and trample upon the fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. These laws contain a vague definition of unlawful activity and essentially empower the state to declare people guilty until they prove their innocence; those arrested under the Act have no right to appeal.
In 2007 an editorial published in IJME highlighted Dr Sens efforts spearheading a campaign against the excesses of the Salwa Judum, a government-sponsored militia promoted to combat extreme Left groups in the region. The editorial emphasised that Dr Sens arrest served as a message: in todays globalised world, the government functions as a law and order keeping machinery in the interests of the corporate sector. Another IJME editorial in 2008 noted that Dr Sen, the first Indian to be awarded the highly prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights, challenged the establishment to provide health care and human rights to Indias poor.
Dr Sen was released after sustained campaigns at home and abroad. A weekly satyagraha outside the Raipur jail was one of many protests held in across the world by students, professionals, and public health and human rights activists and intellectuals including Noam Chomsky, George Galloway, Mahashweta Devi, and 22 Nobel laureates from around the world.
The 59-year-old campaigner for health care to marginalised and indigenous communities stated that he would continue to defend human rights and struggle for the health of Indias poorest in Chhattisgarh despite possible threats to his life from state and non-state actors.
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