A court in Assam remanded a lawyer to judicial custody until Aug. 7 after police detained him near the site of a protest over the NEET examination, despite his claim that he was present as a bystander, lawyer and Congress spokesperson Aman Wadud said on Saturday.
Wadud, who represented advocate Ariful Islam in court, said Islam had been held by Assam Police for more than 24 hours after being detained near the protest venue in Guwahati. According to Wadud, Islam was dressed in his lawyer’s robes, identified himself using his Bar Council identity card and was carrying copies of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) when he was taken into custody.
Police booked Islam under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with offences alleged to endanger the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, Wadud said.
He criticised the arrest, alleging that the police had acted arbitrarily and infringed constitutional safeguards. Wadud also said the detention came despite what he described as the Union government’s agreement to withdraw criminal cases filed against peaceful protesters across the country.
The police did not immediately comment on the allegations.
The case comes days after Assam Police arrested three Muslim youths from Laluk in Lakhimpur district over allegations that they sought to organise a protest in support of the nationwide student movement triggered by the NEET controversy.
The three — Monjur Rahman, 23, Ashraful Islam, 21, and Abdul Kashem, 23 — were arrested on July 23 under Sections 61(2)(b), 353(1) and 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, according to court filings and media reports.
Family members told The Wire that the three had created a WhatsApp group to organise a peaceful demonstration after police denied them permission to hold the protest.
Monjur and Ashraful are postgraduate commerce students, while Kashem is a pharmaceutical science graduate awaiting his professional licence and working as a private school teacher.
“My son has not done anything unconstitutional by trying to organise a protest,” Monjur’s father, Mozibur Rahman, told The Wire. Ayub Ali, father of Ashraful Islam, alleged that the arrests amounted to religious profiling, saying Muslims were being singled out.
Family members said police sought custody of the three for further interrogation, but the court rejected the request and remanded them to judicial custody.
Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita criminalises acts alleged to threaten India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity, including conduct linked to secession, armed rebellion or separatist activities.
Support Independent Media
Click Here and Join the Membership of Millat Times to Support Independent Media.
Support Millat Times