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He is a 58 year old paediatrician and public health physician with a 25 year record of providing health care to the Adivasi people of Chhattisgarh. He has transformed the health-care system in the region by opening many hospitals through the NGO Rupantar, which was started by Shankar Guha Niyogi in 1989. His path breaking work, has been recognized through the various awards, the Paul Harrison award from his alma mater, the CMC Vellore (2004), the RR Keithan Gold medal from the Indian Academy of Social Sciences (2007), and the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights from the Global Health Council (2008).

 He was arrested May 14th, 2007, under the provisions of the Black Laws (The Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act [CSPSA], 2005, and the Unlawful Activities [Prevention] Act, 1967 as amended in 2004). Bail application was dismissed by the Supreme Court in December 2007, without a reason being provided. He remains in jail despite widespread national and international public outcry.

  He is also the General Secretary, People's Union for Civil Liberties ("PUCL"), Chhattisgarh and the Vice-President, National PUCL.He was first drawn to this area through his investigations into hunger deaths and the causes of malnutrition in Chhattisgarh. His work was in the voluntary sector, but he cooperated closely with the government, especially in conceptualizing and designing the Mitanin programme in Chhattisgarh that went on to provide the model for the ASHA of the National Rural Health Mission. He was a member of the State Advisory Committee on Health Sector Reforms during the Ajit Jogi government in Chhattisgarh.

The background of the arrest

 The new state of Chhattisgarh grew more and more disturbed after 2000 as the state’s anxieties about Maoist rebels began to increase. In response to this threat, instead of addressing crucial issues like development and displacement, the state chose to institutionalise a vigilante organisation called the Salwa Judum. Dr. Sen was among the first to draw public attention to the widespread human rights violations and fake encounters in the wake of the Salwa Judum, and as part of an all India team investigated and published a report on the SJ in November 2005. The Supreme Court has agreed with the PUCL's position on Salwa Judum.

 After this report was published, the then DG Police, Chhattisgarh made threatening remarks about PUCL which are on record, specifically that a new law was being formulated that would ‘take care’ of ‘naxal supporters’ in the state. Dr. Sen, along with the rest of PUCL opposed the passage of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act that gave sweeping powers to the state on the lines of TADA and POTA. He was one of the first victims of the new Act.

 The CSPSA, a creation of the Manmohan Singh regime, provides for arbitrary detention backed by an "ouster of jurisdiction" clause providing that action under the "Act by any officer authorized by the government for this purpose or by the District Magistrate shall not be questioned before any court."  The charges are farcical: meetings with Narayan Sanyal, an imprisoned leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) that took place in jail and in the presence of a jailer.  For those who argue that preservation of the safeguards of civil liberties justify the alliance of secular forces represented by the "common minimum programme," the arrest should be a crucial test.  The issue raised cannot be more serious: is the defense of civil liberties itself now to be made criminal?  This outrage is no aberration that, if ignored, shall resolve itself.  The Chhattisgarh context is a microcosm of today's India.

 The targeting of a person like this by the government blurs the middle ground between extremism and state repression. People who are able to view the situation in other than lack or white terms and have credibility with the masses, are crucial in the restoration of
peace in Chhattisgarh.

The Trial

 In his trial which began a year after his arrest, and has been proceeding since May 2008, the state has produced no credible evidence or witnesses in support of its charges, espite repeated claims of their existence. It is increasingly believed that the purpose of Dr. Sen’s arrest and incarceration is to send a chilling message to human rights workers to refrain from challenging or criticizing the government’s actions.

After two harrowing years of imprisonment on the flimsiest of grounds, Dr Sen was finally released on bail on 25th May 2009.