The Gauhati High Court on Thursday quashed the detention order under the National Security Act against anti-corruption campaigner Akhil Gogoi, his lawyer told Scroll.in. The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti leader has been lodged in Dibrugarh jail since his arrest on charges of sedition in September.
Gogoi has been leading an agitation against the government’s handling of the farming crisis in Assam. He has also been fighting against the building of dams, land mafia and corruption in public life. Gogoi has been a vocal critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government.
In 2016, the Union government proposed to amend the Citizenship Act to grant citizenship to people without valid documents belonging to minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India.
On September 12, Gogoi, while addressing a rally in Moran town, allegedly said that if Hindu migrants from Bangladesh were forced upon Assam, people from the state would be forced to take up arms. He was also accused of spreading religious animosity.
Gogoi was initially booked for sedition, but days later, he was charged in 12 cases under the National Security Act. In November, Amnesty International had demanded that the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti leader be released, calling his detention a “clear attempt at subverting” regular criminal justice safeguards, The Telegraph reported.
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