Students’ organisations in Assam have slammed the arrest of anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) activist and Gauhati University student Dipjyoti Gogoi for posting on social media a fake flood-related fund-raising appeal in the name of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Anti-CAA groups, however, claimed he was caught for allegedly reciting an anti-government poem on social media. The poem had references to peasant leader and anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi.
Friends and members of Mr. Dipjyoti Gogoi’s family in eastern Assam’s Demow said he was whisked away in a white vehicle around 8 p.m. on July 20. The way he went “missing” for some time was likened to the case of Aligarh Muslim University Sharjeel Usmani in Uttar Pradesh.
“The Assam police apprehended Dipjyoti Gogoi for creating fake information. A case has been registered under the Crime Branch police station,” a statement from the State government said on July 21. It added that he had been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
Gauhati University organisations and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) slammed Mr. Dipjyoti Gogoi’s arrest and said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led State government was indulging in witch-hunting against all those who have taken part in the anti-CAA movement.
“The government should shed its vindictive attitude and release him,” SFI leader Nirankush Nath said.
Members of other students’ bodies said Mr. Dipjyoti Gogoi’s Facebook post gave the government the opportunity to book him for reciting a poem titled ‘An Open Letter to the Nation’ on social media.
Written by Raju Chetia Phukon, the poem underlines democratic values and seeks the release of Akhil Gogoi, who was arrested on December 12, 2019, on sedition charges.
Mr. Akhil Gogoi is undergoing treatment at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital since testing COVID-19 positive at the Guwahati Central Jail on July 11.
