NIA's Order Challenging Bail to Akhil Gogoi Dismissed by Gauhati High Court

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court dismissed the order of the special court of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and granted bail to Akhil Gogoi in the case registered against him in the Chabua police station in 2019.

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) chief and the newly formed political party Raijor Dal president was detained under the Unlawful Activities Prevention (UAPA) Act for inciting violence during the anti-CAA agitation which set Assam ablaze in 2019. 

The divisional bench headed by justices Suman Shyam and Mir Alfaz Ali delivered their verdict on an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging bail granted to peasant activist Akhil Gogoi by an NIA court in October last year. 

The NIA special court in October last year granted bail to Akhil Gogoi in connection to the case registered against him at Chabua police station in the district of Dibrugarh.

The Gauhati High Court held that the NIA was correct about granting bail to the peasant leader and further dismissed the appeal filed by the investigating agency.  

The Gauhati High Court held in a recent order held that unlawful activities like arson and violence aimed towards causing civil disturbance and law and order problems can't be termed as a terrorist act under the amplitude of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The court order that was delivered on April 9 read, "The dominant intention of the wrongdoer must be to commit a 'terrorist act' coming within the ambit of Section 15(1) of the Act."

Akhil Gogoi, who now heads the newly formed political party Raijor Dal which had contested in the 2021 Assam Assembly election, was arrested in October 2019 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting and has been under arrest ever since. In due course, sections 15(1) (a)/16 of UAPA were added to it. In the same month, the case was transferred to the NIA and a charge sheet was filed in June last year which alleged that the peasant leader was responsible for the anti-CAA protest for taking a violent turn leading to arson and attacks on police personnel. It was further alleged that Gogoi conspired to target a specific community thereby disturbing the unity and integrity of the country. 

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