Supreme Court to hear Akhil Gogoi bail plea on Feb 11

NEW DELHI: A three-judge bench of justices NV Ramanna, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Basu will for the first time hear the bail plea of Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi in the Supreme Court on February 11.

The peasant leader has been imprisoned since December 12, 2019 on charges of sedition and having links with Maoists.

His plea will be heard vide case No. SLP (Crl) No 1050/2021.

Gogoi moved the apex court after the Gauhati High Court had on January 7 rejected Gogoi’s bail plea after it found guilty of alleged financial transactions with CPI (Maoist).

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The division bench verdict dashed hopes of his supporters across Assam who had been hoping that he would be released to take part in the assembly polls in the state.

The case pertains to one of the 13 cases registered against Gogoi for his alleged role in the violent protests that took place in December 2019 against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. Gogoi has been granted bail in all the other cases, including one filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The founder of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) has been charged under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, sedition, criminal conspiracy, support to terrorist organisation and others.

Three of his associates were also arrested under similar charges a day later, but were granted bail later on.

Gogoi has been nominated president of the KMSS-backed Raijor Dal that will contest the Assam assembly polls in April in alliance with Assam Jatiya Parishad on the anti-CAA plank. Gogoi is tipped to be the candidtate from Sivasagar.