Akhil Gogoi, in jail for 18 months, gets 2 day parole to meet mother and son

Akhil Gogoi asked the court for permission to meet his family and constituents who elected him to the assembly last month. The judge granted parole for 48 hours but barred him from meeting the public.

Guwahati: Sibsagar MLA Akhil Gogoi, who has been in jail for the last 18 month, was allowed by a court to step out of the jail on parole to visit his mother and teenage son. The 45-year-old chief of the Raijor Dal, a political party that he founded while in custody, was arrested in December 2019 for his alleged role in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.

Gogoi had asked the court for permission to meet his family and constituents who elected him to the assembly last month. The judge granted parole for 48 hours but barred him from meeting the public.

“The court granted him permission to visit his son in Guwahati and his mother in Jorhat. We had sought permission as Gogoi’s son, who is 14 years old, had contracted Covid-19 and his mother hasn’t been keeping well. His son has recovered now,” said Gogoi’s lawyer Shantanu Borthakur.

A police team escorted Gogoi, who is at present lodged in Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), and will bring him back after the visit. He, however, will not be able to meet his constituents.

Since Gogoi was under custody, his mother Priyada, 84, had played a crucial role in his victory from the Sibsagar seat in this year’s assembly polls. Despite her age and ailments, she campaigned relentlessly for her son resulting in a victory for Gogoi without ever visiting his constituency.

Last month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court granted him permission to take oath in the state assembly as the newly elected legislator from Sibsagar.

The NIA probed two cases against Gogoi in connection with the anti-CAA protests. One was related to Chabua police station in Dibrugarh and the second, relates to Chandmari in Guwahati. The NIA invoked provisions of the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act against him.

He was discharged in the Chabua case on Tuesday. The second case is yet to be decided by the court.

Gogoi was granted bail in connection with the Chabua case by the NIA court in October last year. But the investigation agency approached the Gauhati high court challenging the bail order. In April this year, the Gauhati HC held the NIA court was right in granting bail to Gogoi and dismissed the appeal by the investigating agency. He, however, was not released because of the second case in which he was not granted bail.