Guwahati: Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia asserted that Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi had been the victim of the state government’s decision to reopen a UAPA case that had been filed against him in 2019 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Speaking to the media, the leader of the opposition, Debabrata Saika said, “In the current time, if anyone speaks against the goverment, they are termed as Maoist.”
Debabrata Saika asserted that although the government attacks journalists in other states, it targets leaders in Assam such as Akhil Gogoi and a few other like-minded leaders.
The Gauhati High Court on February 9 overturned a lower court decision excluding Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi from a UAPA case that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had filed against him and others in 2019 in connection with demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The appeal filed by NIA against the Special Court’s July 1, 2021 order to discharge Gogoi in the case accusing him and others of conspiring to incite hatred and disaffection towards the government using the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill as a pretext and promoting animosity among different groups of people was reserved by the division bench of Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Malasri Nandi last month.
“We have allowed the appeal, set aside the judgment and laid some guidelines. The reasons why we have set aside, we have mentioned. This was a mini-trial held and the court went into the question of the possibility of conviction rather than grounds to proceed,” Justice Shyam said while pronouncing the judgment.
The court also said there was a violation of the principles of natural justice on certain points. “The prosecution was entitled to an opportunity,” it added. The bench clarified that those accused, who were on bail previously, will remain on bail. It also said that there will be a day-to-day hearing in the case.
When the court was informed that Gogoi was not on bail, the bench said it has noted that if he moves the bail application, it will be considered on its merits and without being influenced by anything.”The direction is to appear on 23rd of February,” it added.