Akhil Gogoi, Anti-CAA Leader Suffering from Sickness, Taken to GMCH Hospital

Guwahati, March 6, 2020:

Akhil Gogoi, the prominent RTI activist from Assam who was locked up amid the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, has been rushed to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

A source at the hospital has informed Inside Northeast that the peasant leader was admitted to the hospital around 9:30 am in the morning earlier today under heavy cover of security.

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Gogoi, who was arrested in December 2019 for alleged links to "maoist rebels" while leading protests against the CAA, was reportedly under constant medical attention due to problems related to the kidney and back.

Now, human rights activists are demanding that the leader be accorded proper treatment at a proper medical facility outside the state of Assam.

Writing to Justice (retd.) H.L. Dattu, who is the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Babloo Loitongbam (Human Rights Alert, Manipur) and Henri Tiphagne (Human Rights Defenders Alert, India)  stated that Human Rights Defender (HRD) Akhil Gogoi, who has been jailed in Guwahati’s Central Jail, must be accorded proper treatment, preferably at the AIIMS in New Delhi.

In the petition, concerns pertaining to his “deteriorating health conditions” have been raised, and the Comission has been asked to immediately to look into the matter.

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Informing that the peasant leader has long been suffering from kidney and back related problems and was under constant medical supervision at the time of his arrest, the petitioners also said that he was taken for a check up at the GMCH hospital in Guwahati on February 29, almost 75 days after his arrest. Following this, he was unable to meet his legal counsel (on March 2) and his wife (on March 3), and his co-accused and fellow Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) members have informed that he is confined to bed and is unable to get up.

Meanwhile, the clamour for Akhil's release is being echoed in many parts of the country. In Assam, many organizations and activists are demanding that the leader be released at once.

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