*PEOPLE'S UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS*

*PRESS STATEMENT*

16 June 2007

*"Release Binayak Sen": Noam Chomsky*

The widespread campaign to release Dr Binayak Sen and repeal the Chattisgarh
Special Public Security Act received a fillip today with one of the world's
foremost public intellectuals, Professor Noam Chomsky, demanding that he be
released.



Noam Chomsky, Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Arundhati Roy, Prabhat Patnaik,
Ashok Mitra, Habib Tanvir, and Rajendra Yadav and many other intellectuals,
writers, and poets, issued a statement today, in which they said they were
"dismayed at the continued detention in custody of Dr Binayak Sen, General
Secretary of the PUCL, since 14 May". His arrest, their statement said, "is
clearly an attempt to intimidate PUCL and other democratic voices that have
been speaking out against human rights violations in [Chattisgarh]". They
have demanded that that Dr Binayak Sen be released immediately; that
harassment of other activists be stopped; that the Salwa Judum be disbanded;
and that the Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2006 and the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act 2004 be repealed.

Their statement is attached.

NAGRAJ ADVE, SHASHI SAXENA

Secretaries PUDR

**

*RELEASE DR BINAYAK SEN, REPEAL CHATTISGARH ACT*

We, the undersigned, are dismayed at the continued detention of Dr Binayak
Sen, General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh People's Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL), since 14 May. Dr Binayak Sen is also National
Vice-President of PUCL, one of the oldest civil liberties organizations in
India.

Dr Sen epitomises a dwindling tradition in India of public health
professionals taking health care to the poorest sections and most
underdeveloped regions of this country. For the past 30 years, he has been
promoting community rural health care centres. He was a member of the state
advisory committee that piloted a community-based health worker programme in
Chhattisgarh. He also helped establish the Shaheed Hospital in Dalli
Rajhara, set up and operated by workers for over 25 years.

We believe that the arrest of Dr Binayak Sen is a grave assault on the
democratic rights movement in India. PUCL Chhattisgarh has been one of the
foremost independent organizations to draw attention to the excesses
committed by the Chhattisgarh government under its Salwa Judum campaign. The
fake encounters, rapes, burning of villages and displacement of adivasis in
tens of thousands and consequent loss of livelihoods have been extensively
chronicled by several independent investigations. Dr Sen's arrest is clearly
an attempt to intimidate PUCL and other democratic voices that have been
speaking out against human rights violations in the state. In recent days,
the targets of state harassment have widened to include Dr Ilina Sen, who
for years has been active in the women's movement, Gautam Bandopadhyaya of
Nadi Ghati Morcha, PUCL's Rashmi Dwivedi, and other activists of PUCL.


Dr Sen has been detained under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act,
2006 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004 on charges that are
completely baseless. Both these extraordinary laws have been criticized by
numerous civil rights groups for being extremely vague and subjective in
what is deemed unlawful, and for giving arbitrary powers to the State to
silence all manner of dissent. As was feared, these undemocratic laws have
been used to target Dr Sen and PUCL Chhattisgarh.


We demand:

1. That all charges against Dr Sen be dropped and that he should be
released immediately;

2. That the threats to and harassment of other activists be stopped
immediately;

3. The immediate disbanding of the Salwa Judum; and

4. That the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2006 and the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004 be repealed.



*SIGNATORIES*

1. Professor Noam Chomsky
2. Professor Romila Thapar
3. Professor Irfan Habib
4. Dr Ashok Mitra
5. Habib Tanvir
6. Arundhati Roy
7. Professor Amiya Bagchi
8. Professor Prabhat Patnaik
9. Rajendra Yadav
10. Professor Sumit Sarkar
11. Dilip Chitre
12. Professor Jean Dreze
13. Professor Utsa Patnaik
14. Professor Namwar Singh
15. Shyam Benegal
16. Professor Jayati Ghosh
17. Anand Patwardhan
18. Professor Utsa Patnaik
19. Professor Imrana Qadeer
20. Dr Rama Baru
21. Dr Ritu Priya
22. Professor Tanika Sarkar
23. Anand Swaroop Verma
24. Sayera Habib
25. Professor Abhijit Sen
26. Geetha Hariharan
27. Professor Jasodhara Bagchi
28. Dr Uma Chakravarti
29. Professor Anand Chakravarti
30. Gopa Sen
31. Krishna Suman
32. Dunu Roy
33. Dr K. J. Mukherjee
34. Amar Kanwar
35. Vrinda Grover
36. Dr Mohan Rao
37. Professor K.R. Nayar