RAIPUR, April 18 � After remaining behind bars for nearly four months, civil rights activist Binayak Sen was released this evening from Chattisgarh�s central prison where he is serving a life sentence, three days after the Supreme Court granted him bail, reports PTI.
The 61-year-old medical doctor, who was sentenced to life by a local court on charges of sedition and links with Maoists, was reunited with his family amid emotional and poignant scenes, as his two daughters � Aparajita and Pranhita
� jumped on to him and were locked in a tight embrace.
Sen was also hugged and kissed by his mother Anusuya who said he looked �fine.�
Hours before he walked free out of his cell in the Raipur prison, Additional District and Sessions Judge BP Verma directed Sen to surrender his passport as a bail condition in line with the Supreme Court order and that he be released on a personal bond and surety of Rs 50,000 each.
Verma also ordered Sen not to leave the country and appear in the High Court during hearings as and when required. Sen has been lodged in the prison since December 24 when he was convicted and sentenced to life.
Sen�s life sentence had triggered an outcry both within and outside the coutnry.
The Supreme Court had used strong words on Friday in rubbishing the grounds for his conviction. �No case of sedition is made out against him and the evidence is baseless,� said the bail order of judges H S Bedi and C K Prasad.
�Distribution and circulation and even possession of (Maoist ideology and propaganda material) does not amount to sedition,� the court said.
�Even in the worst case scenario, that he (Sen) was in possession of these documents, does not make him guilty of sedition,� it had said.
