EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

A lesson in justice for Chhattisgarh

In granting bail to Binayak Sen, the doctor who was convicted earlier this year by a trial court in Chhattisgarh, the Supreme Court has sent a clear message to the lower judiciary and law enforcement agencies throughout the country: the charge of sedition should not be bandied about lightly. Although the court passed only a one-line order, the observations made by Justices H.S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad during oral arguments on Friday add up to a scathing indictment of the weak case the Chhattisgarh government put up against the paediatrician and human rights activist. Their remarks also suggest the trial court did not apply its mind to the case. Justices Bedi and Prasad demolished two key parts of the prosecution's case during the bail hearing. First, they said the mere possession of Maoist literature did not make a person a Maoist. Secondly, and more crucially, they noted that since jailors supervised every meeting Dr. Sen had with Narayan Sanyal — the jailed Maoist leader whose messages he allegedly helped smuggle out — “the question of passing letters or documents does not arise.” If Chhattisgarh had a professional police force and well-functioning judiciary, these glaring weaknesses in the case against Dr. Sen would have been spotted at the very beginning of the legal process and the charges thrown out. Sadly, it has required the highest court in the country to lay this bare before the world.

In legal terms, Dr. Sen's appeal against his conviction will now continue at the Bilaspur High Court but the endgame, should that forum uphold the charge of sedition, is clear: going by its own observations, the Supreme Court is likely to acquit him eventually. Unfortunately, the Binayak Sen case is not the only Chhattisgarh-related matter involving blatant injustice to come to New Delhi. For the past two years, the Supreme Court has been considering a public interest litigation petition on the role of officially sponsored anti-Maoist vigilantes who have been responsible for the death and displacement of adivasis on a large scale. Though the Chhattisgarh government has repeatedly assured the court that the vigilante squads have been disbanded, it has dragged its feet on the registration of criminal cases and the provision of compensation for the victims of violence. Moreover, as the well-documented attack on innocent tribals in Tarmetla and other villages by the security forces last month demonstrates, vigilantism continues to exact a terrible human toll in the State. With the Raman Singh government refusing to accept responsibility for the appalling state of affairs in Dantewada, the one hope the adivasis of the region have for justice is with the Supreme Court.

Unlocking Mercury's secrets

After a voyage of nearly eight billion kilometres that took over six and a half years, the Messenger spacecraft has settled down to its task of scientifically surveying Earth's enigmatic sibling, the planet Mercury. Recently, the American space probe began sending back images of that far away world, the first to be taken from a spacecraft in orbit around it. It is now 37 years since the Mariner-10 probe, which too had been despatched by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration, provided images of that terra incognita as it thrice flew past the innermost planet in the Solar System. While the Mariner-10 could image less than half the planet, the Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) will cover all of it with 75,000 high-resolution images and also send back data from a variety of onboard instruments. The first such image shows in great detail a 90-km-wide crater called ‘Debussy' located in the South Pole, an area that was never seen before. Protected by a shade from the Sun's scorching heat, the Messenger's science mission will last a year as time is measured on Earth. But that is equivalent to just two Mercury days because the planet takes 176 Earth days to complete one rotation. So, although the probe is circling the planet once every 12 hours, it will be able to view any place on the surface under similar lighting conditions only twice during its mission. By combining information from images taken from two different angles, the topography of the planet can be mapped.

Mercury, one of the four inner rocky planets like Earth, could hold the key to understanding the formation and evolution of the planets in the Solar System. It is the smallest and densest of these planets; has the oldest surface; and experiences the largest daily surface temperature variations. Aside from imaging the planet, the mission has been designed to provide answers to six key questions: the planet's density; its geologic history; the internal magnetic field; the materials at its poles; its exosphere; and the structure of its core. The answers to these questions will help unlock many scientific secrets. For instance, knowing the size and nature of Mercury's core will make it possible to decipher its high density and possession of an internal magnetic field that is akin to the Earth's. Diverse data from Mariner-10's flyby of Mercury provided insights into its unknown features and raised questions about the then-prevalent theories. The next year promises to be rich in planetary surprises, as vast amounts of data from the Messenger come flooding back.