GUWAHATI: Activist Akhil Gogoi was granted bail on Tuesday by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, three months after he was arrested for his alleged role in spearheading protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA.
The court granted bail to Gogoi, founder of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a farmers’ rights organisation, on a surety of ₹30,000 after the NIA failed to file charge sheet against him within 90 days and sought more time.
But Gogoi’s lawyer, Santanu Borthakur, said he is unlikely to get out of prison soon as there are several other cases under the same charges, which were filed in December last year. pending against him in many places across Assam and could get arrested for them.
“We were able to get bail for the NIA case and complete all formalities. But he had also been arrested in another case by the crime branch; we have moved bail for that. There are several other cases against him in Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Teok, Gaurisagar etc. for which he might be arrested once he comes out of jail on bail in the NIA case,” Borthakur said.
Gogoi, who is also a Right to Information (RTI) activist, was arrested at Jorhat on December 12 last year for his role in spearheading the protests across several districts in Assam against the amended citizenship law, which seeks to fast-forward citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
{{/usCountry}}Gogoi, who is also a Right to Information (RTI) activist, was arrested at Jorhat on December 12 last year for his role in spearheading the protests across several districts in Assam against the amended citizenship law, which seeks to fast-forward citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
{{/usCountry}}He was later handed over to the NIA and a court here sent him to 10 days custody of the agency on December 17. He was taken to New Delhi the same day for questioning.
The NIA had lodged a case under sections 120B, 124A, 153A, 153B of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 18 and Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA) on December 12 last year. The charges pertain to criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc., assertions against national integrity, support to terrorist organization etc.Gogoi was brought back to Guwahati towards on December 25 and has been in judicial custody since then.