GUWAHATI, July 16: The Gauhati High Court will soon hear the National Investigation Agency’s appeal challenging a directive by a special NIA court here discharging Sibsagar MLA Akhil Gogoi of all charges in a case related to violence during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) movement.
The Bench of Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Soumitra Saikia, after hearing Devajit Saikia, Advocate General, Assam and senior counsel for the NIA, directed that notices be issued within three weeks to Gogoi and three other co-accused – Bittu Sonowal, Dhairjya Konwar and Manas Konwar – in the case under Chandmari police station here.
The Bench further sought records from the Special Judge’s Court, NIA.
The 45-year-old peasant leader and Raijor Dal chief, who has been in jail since December 2019, was acquitted of all charges by Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das in the Chandmari case on July 1, 2021.
The special NIA court had observed that his speeches “cannot be imputed with any incitement to violence” and that there were no materials to link the accused with vandalism and damage to property that took place during the CAA protest.
The court had declined to frame charges under Sections 120B, 124A, 153A, and 153B of the IPC and Sections 18 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 by holding that no prima-facie case has been made out for framing of charges.
The charges against Gogoi were that he had allegedly conspired to incite hatred and disaffection towards the government established by law, using the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) as a pretext and that they also promoted enmity amongst different groups of people.
