Assam: Peasant leader Akhil Gogoi sent to 10-day NIA custody

Guwahati: Prominent peasant leader and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) adviser Akhil Gogoi, who was arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in Jorhat in Assam recently, was sent to 10-day National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody by a special court in Guwahati on Tuesday.

The leading RTI activist has been booked under Sections 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 124 A (sedition), 153 A (unlawful association) and 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He has also been booked under Section 18/39 (punishment for conspiracy) of the UAPA.

Gogoi was arrested on December 12 in Jorhat and was later handed over to the NIA. The KMSS leader was brought to the city from Jorhat amid tight security and was produced at the NIA court in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Shouting at the waiting journalists when he was taken to the court room, the firebrand leader said that he has been subjected to extreme torture during his custody with the NIA.

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“The agitation should continue. I appeal to the people of the state to continue with the protest till the law is repealed,” he shouted.

Meanwhile, leading intellectual Hiren Gohain also paid a visit to the court premises and told the media persons outside, “Akhil Gogoi was staging democratic protest against the government. The government machinery is trying to supress the people’s voice with their force. It’s really unfortunate that the government has shown such behaviour to a peasant leader like Akhil Gogoi.” Akhil’s alleged connections with the Maoists is “purely circumstantial”, Gohain added.