Gauhati HC Stays CJM Court Order Against CM Sarma

The Gauhati High Court on Friday stayed the decision of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court ordering Dispur police station to register a case against Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The court had ordered the Dispur police station to register a case against the CM based on complaints from Congress Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque.

Notably, CM Sarma had approached the High Court against the CJM order following which the HC stayed the earlier order.

Khaleque had lodged the complaint against the CM for his comments made last year on the Garukhuti eviction in Assam’s Darrang district.

CM Sarma had allegedly called the eviction drive an “act of revenge”. Based on the petition filed by Congress Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque, the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate court directed the Dispur police station to register a case against the Assam CM.

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In his complaint, MP Khaleque stated that CM Sarma had said that the eviction drive in Garukhuti was a ‘revenge’ for the incidents of 1983 when some youths there were killed during the Assam Agitation. He approached the court alleging inaction from the police as they did not register an FIR against the CM.

The order read, “The OC Dispur police station is directed to register a case on the allegations mentioned in the complaint and investigate the matter fairly and to submit the Final Form at the earliest.”

It added, “The police had failed in the discharge of its duty by failing to register the FIR. The veracity of the allegations is not something which can be enquired prior to the registration of the FIR. By failing to even register the FIR, it appears that the police has failed in the discharge of its duty.”

The state government’s eviction drive to remove “illegal encroachers” at Garukhuti in Assam’s Darrang district had turned violent leaving two people including a 12-year-old dead.

The Congress MP accused CM Sarma of making communal statements against a particular community to justify the eviction drive that left more than 7,000 people homeless.

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