New Delhi, April 19 (). The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Gauhati High Court order discharging independent MLA from Assam Akhil Gogoi in a case related to anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links.
A bench of Justices V. Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal affirmed the High Court order in all respects, but granted Gogoi bail pending trial, noting that he had to face imprisonment for about 567 days.
He is out as a free man for the last more than 21 months, the bench said. It is important to note that his liberty was secured not by an order of bail, but by an order of discharge passed by the Special Court, which has now been reversed by the High Court.
It further said that nothing has been brought on record to show that during this period of 21 months when the petitioner has been a free man, he has been involved in any illegal activity.
The bench noted, on the contrary, the petitioner got elected to the Vidhan Sabha in the year 2021 and is now a member of the Vidhan Sabha.
The top court said, investigation in this matter has been completed and the petitioner is not yet a convicted criminal. Therefore, we do not think that any purpose would be served by the Special Court sending him to custody and then enabling him.
Allowing an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the high court had remanded the case back to the trial court for a fresh hearing on the question of framing of charges against all the four accused, including Gogoi.
The top court observed that in fact the offenses against the petitioner under the Indian Penal Code are punishable only with imprisonment up to 3 years and it is only the alleged offenses under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which are punishable with longer terms of imprisonment. Are.
Gogoi had moved the top court challenging the high court’s February 9 order allowing the special NIA court in Assam to frame charges against him in one of the two cases.
SGK
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