Sibsagar MLA and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi was on June 25 allowed to go home after almost 550 days in captivity, but for two days.
A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) granted him 48-hour parole after he wished to visit his wife and teenaged son in Guwahati and mother in Jorhat, about 310 km east.
The court, however, turned down his request to meet the constituents who elected him and barred him from meeting the public during his parole.
The 45-year-old activist-politician was arrested in December 2019 for allegedly inciting violence in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests , leading to the death of at least six people.
“We had sought permission for Mr. Gogoi’s parole as his 14-year-old son recovered after contracting COVID-19 and his 84-year-old mother has not been keeping well,” the jailed MLA’s lawyer Santanu Borthakur said.
A police team escorted Mr. Gogoi from the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital to his house in Guwahati’s Chandmari area late on June 25. He will also be escorted to Jorhat and then brought back.
Priyada Gogoi had campaigned for her son despite her ailments, playing a major role in his victory from the Sibsagar Assembly constituency. Mr. Gogoi was the lone winner from the regional front of Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad.
The NIA on June 22 discharged Mr. Gogoi in one of the two Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act cases against him. The court is yet to decide the case with the Chandmari police station.
In May, the NIA court had granted him permission to take oath as the new legislator from Sibsagar in the 126-member Assam Assembly.
