Binayak Sen allowed to visit South Korea to receive award

RAIPUR: A local court here has allowed rights activist Binayak Sen to visit South Korea to receive an award later this month.

Additional Sessions Judge B P Verma has allowed Sen to go to Korea between May 15 and 20 and released his passport, sources in the court said.

Sen had sought permission from the court to visit Korea to receive 'Gwangju Prize for Human Rights', the country's highest civilian award for civil and democratic rights activists of Asia, they said.

The award, instituted to commemorate the May 1989 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, would be given to Sen on May 18 in Seoul.

He would be required to handover his passport to the court within one week of his arrival in India.

Sen was released on bail by the Supreme Court recently after being held for several months on charges of sedition. He is required to take permission from court before travelling abroad as part of bail condition.