‘He was sympathetic towards poorer section of society since childhood'

Asserting that the sentencing of her son on sedition charges made her lose trust in the country's judicial system, renowned physician and social rights activist Binayak Sen's mother Anasuya Sen said here on Saturday that she was convinced that her son was innocent and was hopeful that he would be released soon.

‘Sympathetic and sensitive'

Ms. Sen added that she would not appeal to the President or the Prime Minister for Dr. Sen's release just now since she knew that he was not guilty.

Speaking at a convention organised by the ‘Free Binayak Sen Campaign- Doctors in Solidarity' at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Ms. Sen remembered her son as a person who was sympathetic and sensitive towards the poorer section of society since childhood.

Recollecting an incident when Dr. Sen, as a four-year-old, had questioned her as to why the man-servant in their house ate separately and not with the family, Ms. Sen said his love and affection towards the downtrodden was apparent even at a tender age.

“When I used to ask him to stay back for a few more days during his visits to the ancestral house in Ranaghat [in Nadia district], he used to tell me that several other mothers living in the remotest parts of Chhattisgarh's forests were also waiting for him to return and treat them. This made me realise that even though I was his biological mother, he was a son to perhaps every mother in this world,” Ms. Sen said.

The octogenarian said she wished that her son would be freed so that he could resume his service to the downtrodden.

She admitted that she could not muster the courage to go to the court on December 24 to hear the judgment, adding that she would definitely meet him when he was produced in the Chhattisgarh High Court this time.