On July 1, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has cleared Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi under the only pending Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and sedition case against him.
Akhil Gogoi, who is an independent MLA from Assam’s Sivasagar along with his associates was booked by the NIA for sedition under the UAPA due to his active involvement in the Anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act i.e. CAA protests. On 22nd June, the MLA as well as his two other associates were cleared of charges in the first case.
No charges were framed against Akhil Gogoi and his associates Dhairjya Konwar, Monas Konwar and Bitu Sonowal by the special judge of NIA Pranjal Das in connection with the Chandmari case where they were accused of allegedly having Maoist links.
Tounter-terrorist task force of India NIA were investigating two cases. The cases were first registered at Chandmari and Chabua police stations concerning Gogoi and his associates’ alleged role in the violent protests. They were accused of being involved in “terrorist activities” while using the CAA issue to allegedly promote enmity between groups.
In a raid conducted by the NIA in December 2019, the officials of the anti-terror probe agency had seized books related to Communism, Marxism, Socialism, Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin from the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMMS) office, the peasants’ body that Gogoi leads.
According to Gogoi’s lawyer, the MLA is free of all chargers and will be released from the jail soon.