Binayak Sen

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Binayak Sen (Hindi: बिनायक सेन, Bengali: বিনায়ক সেন) is a paediatrician, and public health specialist. He is the national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He is the recipient of several awards including the Jonathan Mann Award, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, and the Gandhi International Peace Award. He has been convicted of sedition by a local Court in India which was later upheld by the High Court of Chhattisgarh. He was subsequently granted bail by the Supreme Court of India on appeal. He is a member of the policy group for Police Reforms of Aam Aadmi Party. Binayak Sen originally started working as a paediatrician extending health care to poor people in the rural-tribal areas of the Chhattisgarh state, doubling up as a human rights activist. While Sen has worked with the state government on health sector reform he has also strongly criticised the government on human rights violations during the anti-Naxalite operations, while advocating non-violent political engagement. In May 2007, he was detained for allegedly supporting the outlawed Naxalites which would violate the provisions of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. Sen first applied for bail before the Raipur Sessions Court and then the Chhattisgarh High Court in July 2007, soon after his arrest, but was granted bail by the Supreme Court of India on 25 May 2009. In 2010 he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by Raipur Sessions Court, Chhattisgarh for sedition and helping Naxalites to set up a network to fight the State. He was granted bail on 15 April 2011 by the Supreme Court of India which gave no reason for the order. Sen has filed an appeal before the Chhattisgarh High Court and the case is pending. (Source: DBPedia)