The National Investigation Agency (hereinafter referred to as “NIA”) court on Tuesday granted permission to the jailed activist and the president of Raijor Dal, Akhil Gogoi, to take oath as legislator of Assam Assembly. Gogoi is the first person from Assam to win an election from behind the bars.
The Hon’ble NIA court judge Pranjal Das hearing a petition by 45-year-old anti-citizenship activist, Akhil Gogoi has been jailed since December 2019 for alleged inciting violence in Assam during the anti-citizenship act protest.
Gogoi’s advocate Santanu Borthakur stated to the media, “This is not considered to be as a bail. Gogoi will be taken by the police from GMC Hospital, Guwahati, where he is currently lodged, to the state assembly and then brought back after the oath-taking ceremony as per the Hon’ble court’s ruling.”
The victory of Gogoi against the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Surabhi Rajkonwari by a vote margin of 11,875 in the Sibsagar seat has been considered as a second-most-spectacular victory. The first one is of former union minister George Fernandes who won the 1977 election of Lok Sabha while being in jail since the Emergency.
In December 2019, a case was filed against Gogoi in Dibrugarh. Subsequently, the case was transferred to NIA for further investigation. It was alleged that he was involved in a conspiracy to led the mob that would attack the police personnel and disintegrates the unity of the country.
Last month i.e., on April 2021, the Hon’ble Guwahati High Court upheld the bail decision of the Hon’ble NIA court while dismissing the plea of NIA. The Hon’ble Court observed that any act which aimed at creating a disturbance in the society without the requisite intention would not come under the ambit of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,1967 (hereinafter referred to as “UAPA, 1967”).
However, the Gogoi continues to be in judicial custody because of another anti-CAA violence case which is also being filed by the National Investigation Agency.
