NIA summons TV journalist in Assam for questioning related to anti-CAA protests

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has summoned a television journalist in Guwahati for questioning in connection with the anti-CAA protests in Assam that turned violent in December.

The journalist, Manash Jyoti Baruah has been asked to reach the NIA's office at Sonapur in the outskirts of Guwahati on Friday noon.

"I received a phone call from NIA additional SP, D R Singh, who asked me to visit their office. When I asked him the reason, he told me that he wants to question me related to anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi and the agitation against CAA. I will go there and co-operate," Baruah told DH on Thursday afternoon.

The same, however, could not be verified with the NIA.

The questioning is related to the case (13/2019), which was registered against Akhil Gogoi and his associates in Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, the organisation he leads.

During the CAA protest, Baruah was associated with News18-Northeast Assam, a satellite news channel in Guwahati and had extensively reported the protests including those by KMSS. He now works in Mirror of Assam, a new digital media organisation in Guwahati.

Akhil and several of his associates were arrested in December after the protest against CAA turned violent in Guwahati and some other places. At least five persons died in police firing and during the protests.

Akhil was granted bail in the case but was later arrested in another case. He is still in judicial custody. He has been accused of having relations with the Maoists.

The NIA had earlier similarly questioned several activists and a professor of IIT Guwahati in connection with the case.

The NIA's summon to Baruah invited sharp reaction from many journalists in Guwahati, who described it as a "drastic measure to curtail media voice."