Organisations have been holding protests across Assam demanding release of KMSS adviser Akhil Gogoi (file phot…Read More

By: Rokibuz Zaman
GUWAHATI: An NIA court on Friday granted bail to Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) general secretary Dharjya Konwar, the third leader of the peasants’ rights organization to be released in a week. He, too, like Manash Konwer and Bittu Sonowal, was charged with sedition by the central agency.
Dharjya is currently undergoing treatment at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital as he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus recently and will be released after completion of formalities by jail authorities once he recovers.
KMSS joint general secretary Mukut Deka said, “We had filed separate bail petitions. After Manash Konwar and Bitu Sonowal, Dharjya was granted bail today (Friday).”
He was named in the same case (No. 13/2019) in which activist Akhil Gogoi and other KMSS leaders were arrested for allegedly having a nexus with Maoist groups. Sonowal was arrested in December and had been lodged at the Guwahati Central Jail since then. They were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, after the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Assam turned violent in December.
Meanwhile, peasant leader Akhil Gogoi was on Thursday granted bail by the Gauhati High Court in three cases lodged by the Assam Police in connection with violence at the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in December last year. However, he will remain in jail as he is still being probed by the National Investigation Agency.
Gogoi, the founder-adviser of KMSS, had tested positive for Covid-19 inside Guwahati Central Jail on July 11 and is undergoing treatment at GMCH. Manash Konwar and Bittu Sonowal were granted bail by a special NIA court on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.