Guwahati/Morigaon (Assam), Mar 29 (PTI) The Gauhati High Court has granted interim bail to Assam Congress Spokesperson Reetam Singh, arrested for a social media post enquiring about the status of cases registered against three senior BJP leaders, including two serving MLAs.
The opposition leader is, however, yet to be released from Lakhimpur jail, where he is being held, as legal formalities have not been completed with his lawyers “analysing the probability of new cases being filed against him by Morigaon Police”, a Congress spokesperson said in Guwahati.
Singh was arrested from his home in Guwahati on March 15 by a team of Lakhimpur Police with assistance from the Guwahati Police, and has been in judicial custody in Lakhimpur since then.
Congress spokesperson Bedabrata Bora told PTI that Singh has been granted interim bail against a bond of Rs 50,000 by the Gauhati High Court on Thursday.
“His advocates reached Lakhimpur but the necessary legal formalities were not carried out today by them. We have learnt that a team of Morigaon Police has reached there. We are not ruling out the probability of filing of fresh cases against him,” Bora said.
Alleging highhandedness by the police, he added, “This is not a healthy sign for democracy. Just when a person gets bail, police try to come up with another charge.” Morigaon Superintendent of Police Hemanta Kumar Das confirmed to PTI that a team from his district is in Lakhimpur.
“Our team has gone to Lakhimpur. They have gone there on the basis of an FIR lodged with us. It is in the investigation stage,” he said, refusing to divulge further details.
Earlier, Lakhimpur Superintendent of Police Mihirjit Gayan had told PTI that Singh was arrested after a complaint by the wife of BJP MLA Manab Deka for a post on X on March 13.
A case under Sections 356(2) of BNS (defamation), 67 of IT Act (obscene material in electronic form) and other clauses of the SC/ST Act was registered against him in Lakhimpur, another police officer said.
Singh made a post on X on March 13 with a news report about three individuals being convicted by a court for a rape case in Dhemaji district in 2021.
“These culprits got the punishment they deserved. But what @BJP4Assam r@pe accused Ministers and MLAs like Manab Deka, Ex Party President Bhabesh Kalita, ex Minister Rajen Gohain? Is the law equal for all?” the Congress leader had asked in his post.
Kalita, who was the BJP’s Assam unit president till January this year, is an MLA along with Deka, while Gohain was the Union Minister of State for Railways during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term.
During the arrest of the Congress leader, a lot of drama unfolded at the Guwahati apartment of the accused, with Singh initially claiming that no warrant or notice was served on him.
As he resisted his arrest, he was forcibly taken away. Several policemen pushed him inside an SUV amid presence of many Congress leaders like Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi. PTI SSG COR SSG ACD
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