A local court in Guwahati has asked police to register a case against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma based on an FIR lodged by Congress MP, Abdul Khaleque in which he alleged that Sarma made "communally inciting" speech regarding an eviction drive.
The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Kamrup (metro), B. Baruah on March 5 directed the officer-in-charge of Dispur police station in Guwahati to register a case on the MP's allegations, investigate the matter "fairly" and to submit the "final form at the earliest."
The court issued the order while disposing of a petition filed by Khaleque, a Lok Sabha member from Barpeta constituency in Assam, in which he complained that police did not act on the FIR he lodged against the CM in Dispur police station in December last year.
In his FIR, Khaleque accused Sarma of hate-mongering and provoking people to commit "acts of rioting" against Muslims in Assam in a speech in Morigaon on December 10 while talking about an eviction drive carried out in Darrang district in September last year. Referring to the speech, Khaleque accused the CM of saying that the eviction drive against the "illegal encroachers" belonging to Muslims was an "act of revenge" for the violent incidents of 1983.
Two persons died and several others were injured during the eviction drive carried out at Gorukhuti in Darrang district in September last year to clear government land from "illegal encroachers" for an agriculture project meant for "indigenous" people in the state.
Sarma had earlier claimed that "indigenous" people were killed by "illegal migrants" in the area.
Khaleque alleged that the CM's speech was aimed at flaring up a communal passion that intended to disturb the already fragile social and communal fabric of the state.
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