3 years after NIA court cleared Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi, he is charged under UAPA in same case

On Tuesday, Special Judge S K Sharma framed charges against Gogoi under section 18 of the UAPA, which pertains to conspiracy or attempt to commit a terrorist act, as well as under IPC sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between different groups, and assertions prejudicial to national integration.

However, the court dropped two significant charges made by the NIA in its chargesheet – section 39 of the UAPA, which pertains to support given to a terrorist organisation, and section 124A of the IPC, which pertains to sedition. The FIR had alleged that Gogoi “secretly merged” his organisation, KMSS, with the Revolutionary Communist Centre and the latter was later merged with the banned CPI (Maoist).

Gogoi was in jail for over one-and-a-half years after his arrest on December 12, 2020. On July 1, 2021, he was released after a special NIA court cleared him of all charges, stating that there was no “prima facie materials to frame charges against the accused persons” and the “ends of justice demands that the accused be discharged, without making him suffer the process of trial”.

This was appealed by the NIA in the Gauhati High Court and in February last year, and the HC allowed the NIA to frame charges.

“Challenging an oppressive state is very difficult and heavy work. Today’s charges make one thing clear: the government is still working against us… The court had given us relief, this court had said that the charges against are completely false charges and that this case cannot be taken up in court. Now again the government is pressing for the case to be taken up,” said Gogoi after Tuesday’s court proceedings.

Gogoi’s legal representative Santanu Borthakur said, “Once the court frames the charges, there are two options. Either to face trial or to approach the High Court against this. We are mulling over the matter and after studying the verdict, we will talk to our client.”