Arrested BPF MLA Pradip Brahma being taken to Kokrajhar court on Thursday

Kokrajhar/Guwahati, Aug. 23: The arrest of BPF legislator Pradip Brahma at 1am today for his alleged role in the Kokrajhar riots has spurred the party to call an indefinite strike in Kokrajhar and consider backing out of the alliance in Dispur.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, however, brushed aside the threat saying the BPF had the right to withdraw from the alliance.

Pradip Brahma alias Jara, legislator from Kokrajhar (West) Assembly constituency, was picked up from his house in Dotma at 1am and brought directly to the circuit house. He was produced in court around 2.30pm and remanded in 14 days’ judicial custody. He was booked under Sections 120B/147/148/149/436/427/379/506 IPC in case number 27/12 at Dotma police station.

Police sources said altogether seven cases have been registered against him in different police stations for his alleged role in the riots in Kokrajhar.

Condemning the arrest, senior BPF legislator and former agriculture minister Pramila Rani Brahma said the party would have to rethink its alliance with the Congress if the “partiality” continued.

She alleged that Bodo people whose houses had been torched had been arrested and accused the police of partiality. “This is one-sided, targeting Bodos only. If such partiality continues, there is a possibility that relations with the Congress may sour and we may be forced to come out of the alliance,” she said.

She questioned how a legislator could be picked up from his house without a warrant, the presence of a magistrate or the Speaker’s permission. “We condemn the way he was picked up and arrested. It’s an insult to an elected representative.”

BPF MLA Pramila Rani Brahma, along with party workers, blocks railway tracks, demanding the unconditional release of party legislator Pradip Brahma in Kokrajhar on Thursday. Pictures by UB Photos

Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi said his consent was not required for arresting an MLA in connection with law and order cases. “But I have to be formally informed of the arrest,” he told The Telegraph in Guwahati. Sources said no warrant or magistrate is required to pick up a legislator in cases related to law and order. The MLA has been accused of allegedly leading a mob that torched houses in the Mowamari area of his constituency. Some people, now staying at a relief camp in Borkanda Peoples Academy in Dhubri, had demanded his arrest when UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and chief minister Tarun Gogoi visited the camp on August 12.

As news of his arrest spread, hundreds of BPF workers gathered at Kokrajhar railway station and blocked the movement of trains for nearly six hours from 8am by squatting on the tracks despite a curfew being in place. They demanded unconditional release of the MLA and an impartial inquiry into the violence. The district administration had clamped the indefinite curfew from 7am while the army staged a flag march in the morning fearing reactions after the arrest. Around 10am, the police and district administration officials, with help from CRPF, tried to lift the blockade but stopped following an order from the state home department to act soft fearing violence.

BPF MLA Chandan Brahma, who is the state transport and tourism minister, met the chief minister this morning. He later said he would discuss the matter with party chief Hagrama Mohilary. Other party leaders also criticised the police and administration for the manner in which they arrested the MLA and demanded his unconditional release.

BTC executive member Derhasat Basumatary said, “Why did the police have to pick him up in the dead of night as if he is a criminal, a terrorist? The police could have called him and executed the arrest during the day. He has been in Kokrajhar, moving from one relief camp to another. He did not run or flee. What made the police arrest him past midnight?”

Former Rajya Sabha MP and BPPF adviser U.G. Brahma said the arrest could worsen the situation. The chief minister, however, said the law would take its own course. “I am yet to receive the details of the case in which he was arrested. I don’t know the charges against him but it is up to the court to decide whether he is guilty or not. I can’t comment on that,” Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati today. “We will ask the CBI to probe his alleged role in the violence,” he added.

On the BPF’s threat of withdrawing support, Gogoi said, “They are free to do whatever they like. I am not saying we don’t want their support but if they want to withdraw support then they can go ahead as they have every right to decide whether they will stay in the government or not.”

The withdrawal of BPF, which has 12 MLAs in the Assembly, including a minister, from the alliance is unlikely to affect the government because the Congress has 78 MLAs in the 126-member Assembly.

On the tension in Kokrajhar following Brahma’s arrest, Gogoi said, “Everyone has the democratic right to protest peacefully but stern action will be taken against perpetrators of violence.”

The bodies of three persons of Guabari village under Nagrijuli police station in Baksa district who had gone missing on Tuesday have been recovered. The body of one of the two persons who went missing after a shooting at Bangaldoba in Dhubri district has also been fished out from Dhir Beel, additional superintendent of police Prasanta Dutta said.

A three-member central team, led by minister of state for external affairs and human resource development, E. Ahamed, visited three relief camps in Dhubri district and held a brief meeting with officials of the district administration today. The other members of the team were MPs E.T. Waser and Abdur Rahman.