Bhubaneswar: Noted human rights activist and author Dr Ilina Sen passed away at the age of 69 after a prolonged battle with cancer. She breathed her last at her residence in Kolkata last night.
She is survived by her husband, Dr Binayak Sen, and two daughters.
Sen is known for taking up the cause of mine worker trade unions in Chhattisgarh against corporatisation and championing the cause of tribal rights. She has also authored two books: Inside Chhattisgarh: A Political Memoir and Sukhvasin: The Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh. Along with her husband, Sen was a powerful voice against Salwa Judum and setting up of civil vigilante groups called the Koya Commandos in Chhattisgarh.
The activist moved to academics a decade ago. Ilina Sen taught at the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, Maharashtra and later moved to Mumbai to join the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Her husband, a practising doctor and human rights activist, was in 2010 convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Chhattisgarh on charges of conspiring to commit sedition and for allegedly assisting Maoists. Ilina Sen led the legal battle for his release, with her campaign drawing support from public intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Amartya Sen. Finally, in 2011, the Supreme Court granted bail to him and said that no case of sedition was made out against the rights activist.
Dr Ilina Sen’s last rites were performed at Keoratala crematorium of Kolkata. CPI(ML) state secretary Partha Ghosh had confirmed in a public statement.