Assam MLA booked for spreading rumours
Taking a tough stand against those engaged in rumour mongering, Assam Police on Tuesday arrested a legislator on sedition charges and remanded him to judicial custody for making provocative and communal remarks besides posting false fabricated posts in social media on coronavirus disease and the treatment of patients at isolation centers in the state.
Assam Director General of Police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said that Mr Aminul Islam, the Dhing MLA from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), has been booked under relevant Indian Penal Code sections and arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and spreading disaffection among communities, among others.
In an audio clip that has gone viral, Mr Islam claimed that a conspiracy is being hatched to kill the people who are kept in quarantine. Mr Islam who represents Dhing constituency in central Assam’s Nagaon district, had also claimed that the quarantine centres in Assam were worse than detention camps for illegal immigrants.
The AIUDF legislator was also trying to propagate that nobody from the Nizamuddin Markaz event has tested positive for coronavirus.
Mr Islam, who is notorious for inflammatory speeches, also came down heavily on media and said that both national and regional media have been trying to malign the image of the Muslim community in the country. “See the name of the first infected patient in India. See the names of all other patients. Are they all Muslims?” he argued.
Accusing Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of trying to politicise the issue, Mr Islam had also alleged that the minority people have been targeted and tortured in various camps set up by the state government to offer quarantine facilities.
Assam police picked up Mr Islam from his residence in Dhing on Monday night and arrested him on Tuesday morning after interrogation.
“He was produced in court on Tuesday which remanded him to judicial custody. We have seized his personal digital accessories and processing them as per law. We have found several clippings in his mobile, which we will have to test digitally,” said the senior police officer.
The police claimed that during interrogation, the MLA confessed that the voice in the purported audio clip is his and that he circulated the audio clip on WhatsApp. The police have taken away his mobile phone for forensic examination. Police said that the state Assembly speaker has been informed about the arrest of the MLA.
Meanwhile, contrary to Mr Islam’s statement, Assam MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal has urged all who returned to Assam to undergo testing.