•Your health has become a matter of concern. The court-appointed doctor has recommended that you get an angiography [heart checkup]. As a doctor yourself, what do you think?

In open court, I told the judge “I can have a heart attack any moment.” The doctor that the court sent me to confirmed that I have a heart problem and need medical treatment. As an undertrial, it is my right to undergo treatment by a doctor of my choice, particularly since I’m paying for the treatment. I want to go to CMC Vellore. I’ve studied there; I trust the doctors there. The government here seems to want to kill me.

•You are now a global icon. Nobel laureates have written demanding your release; Amnesty International recently called you ‘a prisoner of conscience’. Do you think that all this international attention has irritated the police, judiciary and government of Chhattisgarh? Has this harmed your legal case?

I don’t believe in this ‘icon’ business. Widespread human rights abuse is taking place in Chhattisgarh and other states. I am simply, what in medical terms is referred to as, ‘an index case.’ What has happened to me shows what the government intends to do with any of its critics, anyone who questions their human rights record. The prosecution doesn’t have a case; never had a case. A judge as senior as Rajindar Sachar says: “Denial of bail for Binayak Sen is a blot on the Indian judiciary”. The way in which my case has been dealt with is an example of the paranoia that pervades the state in this war on terror. Any critic, any dissenter, is not tolerated.

... contd.