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Jailed Assam peasant leader Akhil Gogoi tests negative for Covid-19 after 2 associates found positive
The peasant leader’s associates, Sonowal and Konwar, who have tested positive, have been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital.
Assam peasant leader and founder of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) Akhil Gogoi has tested negative for Covid-19 after two of his associates have been found positive for coronavirus disease.
All three have been in jail since December last year for their role in protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
While the results of KMSS general secretary Dharjya Konwar and Bitu Sonowal, a leader of the outfit’s student wing, were found positive on Wednesday night, Gogoi’s results came back on Thursday evening.
All three activists were lodged at the central jail in Guwahati where an inmate was found positive last month.
Earlier Gogoi’s counsel Santanu Borthakur had told HT that the KMSS leader had tested positive for Covid-19.
The peasant leader’s associates, Sonowal and Konwar, who have tested positive, have been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital.
Guwahati and rest of Kamrup Metro district, which has been under today countdown for 14 days since June 28 due to sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, has recorded nearly 5,000 patients in the past fortnight.
Gogoi was arrested at Jorhat on December 12 last year for his role in the protests against CAA, which seeks to fast forward citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He was later handed over to 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.
Gogoi was brought back to Guwahati on December 25 and was in judicial custody ever since. Several demonstrations seeking his release following reports of his deteriorating health had taken place both in Assam and outside.
The NIA has 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 (UAPAA).
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.
His associates were also arrested in December and all of them have been in jail ever since.
