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All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Aminul Islam was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on Wednesday, the day he got bail in the sedition case in which he was arrested on April 24, over remarks on the Pahalgam terror attack.
Islam, who is an MLA from Dhing, had been arrested on charges that included Section 152 of the BNS for statements at a political rally suggesting that the attack was a “conspiracy” by the central BJP government. Section 152 of the BNS pertains to “acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”, a charge similar to “sedition” under the IPC.
He was the first person arrested in the state for remarks or social media posts regarding the terror attack, with the number now up to 60. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweets about these arrests frequently, including on Wednesday when four people were held in two different instances, posting: “Crackdown on Anti-nationals continues… They will also receive special care for their anti-national activities.”
Islam got bail in the sedition case from a Nagaon court, where he was produced on Wednesday. Nagaon SP Swapnaneel Deka told The Indian Express: “He had received bail today but after that, we received a detention order for him under the National Security Act. So he has now been detained again and is in Nagaon Central jail.”
The NSA empowers the authorities to detain a person without a formal charge and without trial for up to 12 months.
The detention order issued by Nagaon District Magistrate Narendra Kumar Shah cites a police report saying Islam “has been engaging in activities prejudicial to maintenance of public order and the security of the state” and, quoting his speech, adds that he is “satisfied that the said individual is likely to continue engaging in activities prejudicial to public order and the security of the state”. The District Magistrate then directs that Islam be detained under Section 3(2) of the NSA and be lodged in Central Jail Nagaon “with immediate effect”.
The AIUDF has refrained from lending support to Islam in the matter. The Assam-based regional party, with its primary base being the state’s Bengali-origin Muslim community, is frequently at the receiving end of Sarma’s attacks. These are set to sharpen as the countdown to the Assam Assembly elections next year begins.
Distancing the party from its Dhing MLA’s remarks, AIUDF general secretary, organisation, also called Aminul Islam, told The Indian Express: “In his speech, he (the MLA) made statements against the Indian system and cast doubts that the Pahalgam attack was an act of the Indian government itself. At a time like this, especially when there is a war-like situation with another nation, him politicizing the issue was not good. Now this is a matter of the law and the law will take its own course. It will not be proper for us to comment on this.”
The MLA from Dhing since 2011, Islam has had several run-ins with controversy. In 2020 too, the BJP government in the state had held him under sedition charges for an audio clip where he could purportedly be heard saying that Covid quarantine centres in Assam were “worse” than the state’s detention centres for undocumented migrants, and that the government was “conspiring” against Muslims and putting those associated with the Tablighi Jamaat into isolation.
In the clip, he also alleged that the state could kill a person in quarantine and then say that the person died “due to Coronavirus”. Then too the AIUDF had distanced itself from Islam’s statements.
