To,                                                                                                                               14^th May 2007

Dr. Raman Singh,
The Hon'ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
Fax No: 0771-2221000/2221001

Dear Dr. Singh,

We the undersigned as representatives of people's movements and civil society organisations are deeply shocked at the news of the arrest of Dr. Binayak Sen, General Secretary, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Chhattisgarh and Vice President of PUCL, India.

We understand that Dr. Sen, a respected member of the medical fraternity, renowned paediatrician and senior civil rights activist has been charged for 'aiding and abetting Naxal activity in the State' under the draconian and undemocratic Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2006 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 2004.

For several years Dr. Sen has been involved in training people in villages to look after the health of their own communities, running free clinics in areas where the state's medical facilities are not available. For his work he was awarded the Paul Harrison Award in 2004 by the Christian Medical College in Vellore.

We have reason to believe that Dr. Binayak Sen, as a member of PUCL is being targeted for continually raising civil rights issues in Chhattisgarh including the recent killing of 12 adivasis in Bijapur district on 31^st March. We strongly condemn this politically motivated arrest and are deeply concerned about the health and safety of Dr. Sen while in custody.

We call upon you to act urgently and ensure that Dr. Binayak Sen is released unconditionally and that all charges against him are withdrawn. We also call upon your government to withdraw draconian legislations like CSPSA, 2006 and UAPA, 2004, which are being indiscriminately used in the state to stifle democratic dissent and suppress varied political perspectives.

Thanking you

Medha Patkar          Gautam Bandopadhyay      Ashok Choudhury     Dr. Sandeep Pandey                        Manju Gardia          Saktiman Ghosh   Dr. Rakesh Rafique    Arun Khote

Copy sent to: 1) Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India (Fax: 011-23016857)

                        2) Mr. Shivraj Patil, Union Home Minister, GoI (Fax: 011-23094221/23794833)

                        3) Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan, Governor, Chhattisgarh (Fax: 0771-2331104)

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