Jethmalani offers to defend Binayak Sen

Refusing to follow his party's line, eminent lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Ram Jethmalani said today that he could fight the case for convicted rights activist Binayak Sen against the party's government in Chhattisgarh. Need strong evidence in sedition cases: Ex-chief justices

Refusing to follow his party's line, eminent lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Ram Jethmalani said on Tuesday that he could fight the case for convicted rights activist Binayak Sen against the party's government in Chhattisgarh.

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Sen, 59, was on Dec 24 held guilty of sedition by a Chhattisgarh court and sentenced to life term. He is a vice president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

"I would do it for him, I would fight for Binayak Sen. No party line says a lawyer should not fight a case," Jethmalani told CNN-IBN.

He stressed that the case was based on weak evidence.

"I have not seen the judgment, but on the basis of the case that was filed I can say it was a case of low evidence," he added.

Jethmalani, a Rajya Sabha MP from BJP, earlier appeared for Sen in the Supreme Court when he was seeking bail. He argued against the state government following which Sen was granted bail.

The BJP, which is the ruling party in Chhattisgarh where Sen has been convicted by a court, has been maintaining a hard stance against the Maoists. It believes Sen is a Maoist sympathiser.