Assam police on Friday arrested seven more persons as part of the BJP-led state government’s “intensified crackdown” on individuals “promoting anti-national sentiments” in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma released the names of those arrested on his X handle, asserting that “Assam will not tolerate any individual who, directly or indirectly, supports or defends Pakistan in connection with the heinous attack in Pahalgam” or promotes “the cause of Pakistan on social media”.
The number of people arrested for “objectionable” social media posts since Thursday has gone up to eight till Friday evening, and the number is set to rise going by Sarma’s statement.
Sarma had previously warned of an impending crackdown hours after the arrest of AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam from Nagaon district on charges of sedition for his “misleading and instigating statement” targeting the Centre over the Pahalgam terror attack.
The chief minister had said the arrest of three-term MLA Aminul was just the beginning while warning “everybody who is in Assam that any attempt to defend Pakistan — directly or indirectly — will be taken head on”.
Sarma had said: "We will take strongest possible action”.
Nagaon police said that Aminul was produced in a local court on Thursday, which remanded him in police custody for four days.
Assam University’s Computer Science student, Bahauddin from Silchar, was arrested on Friday based on a complaint lodged by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Silchar Unit. The student was accused of posting “inflammatory, defamatory, and communally-inciting statements” on his Facebook account on April 23.
Bahauddin later removed his post and offered an apology: “Yesterday, I posted a content on Facebook regarding the Pahalgam incident, where my words came across as aggressive and, in some cases, offensive. I now realize that the way I expressed my views was inappropriate and may have hurt or impacted others. For this, I sincerely apologise. It was never my intention to offend or upset anyone. Thank you for your understanding.”
The police produced Bahauddin in court on Friday. He has been booked under multiple sections of the BNS, including 296 (uttering obscene content in public); 196 (promoting enmity between groups), 352 (intentional insult provoking breach of peace), 299 (deliberate act to inflame religious feelings) and 365 (3) dealing with criminal defamation. Another section was 66 of the IT Act.
In neighbouring Meghalaya, a 30-year-old person was arrested following multiple reports about a Facebook account under the name Man Shylla posting anti-national comments linked to the terror attack. The arrested person has been identified as Simon Shylla. He was arrested from Umlyngka in East Khasi Hills district.
