Guwahati: Assam Police has summoned Congress MLA Zakir Hussain Sikdar and another party leader for questioning in connection with a clash that took place when Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ entered Guwahati last month, officials said on Monday, February 19.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police has issued the summons to Sikdar and Guwahati City Congress general secretary Ramen Kumar Sarma and asked them to appear before it at 11:30 am on February 23.
“The case is still under investigation. We have issued notices to two persons under Section 41A of CrPC. We are looking into the role of other people in the case,” a senior Assam Police official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Along with Gandhi, other senior Congress leaders such as KC Venugopal, Jitendra Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Srinivas BV, Kanhaiyya Kumar, Gaurav Gogoi, Bhupen Kumar Borah, Debabrata Saikia and others have also been named in the FIR.
On January 23, Congress workers in presence of Gandhi and other leaders broke police barricades, which were put up after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma threatened to file an FIR if the Yatra attempted to enter the main Guwahati city.
The party workers clashed with police, who used mild lathicharge to control the situation, but failed to protect the barricades. Several police personnel and party workers were injured in the scuffle.
After dismantling the barrier, the Congress workers, however, did not proceed further with Gandhi stating that they “can break barricades, but will not break law” and moved through its permitted route along the NH-27 in Guwahati.
This episode prompted the chief minister to term the action as “naxalite” style and instructed police to register a case. Guwahati Police lodged a suo motu FIR against Gandhi and other leaders for “wanton acts of violence”.
Sarma even announced that the “instigators”, including Gandhi, will be arrested after Lok Sabha polls as he does not want to “politicise” the issue before the general elections.
The chief minister, who also holds the charge of the home department, later announced that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will be formed to probe the case and accordingly, it was handed over to the CID.
The case was initially filed at Basistha Police Station under 10 different sections, including non-bailable ones, such as 120B (criminal conspiracy), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 188 (disobedience of order), 283 (causing danger, obstruction or injury) and 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty) of the IPC.
Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 for alleged mischief causing damage to public property has also been slapped in the FIR.
Similarly, another FIR was registered against the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ and its organisers such as KB Byju, Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah and others for allegedly deviating from its permitted route inside Jorhat town, leading to a “chaotic situation” in the area.
The Jorhat district police issued notices to the accused persons and several of them have already been interrogated.
Referring to police cases against him and other Congress leaders in Assam, Gandhi had dared the BJP-ruled state to file “as many cases as it can”, asserting that he would not be intimidated.
The Yatra, led by the Congress MP, commenced from Manipur on January 14 and will culminate on March 20 in Mumbai.
The Assam leg of the march, which started on January 18 and concluded on January 25, travelled 833 km in 17 districts.
The Yatra plans to cover 6,713 km in 67 days while passing through 110 districts in 15 states.
