The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain aplea by farmers' rights activist Akhil Gogoi in a case pertaining to anti-CAAprotests in Assam in 2019.
A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana said that it is not willing to grant bailat this stage to Gogoi. He is in jail since December 2019 due charges against him.Gogoi's was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act amidlarge-scale anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Assam.
During the hearing, Gogoi's counsel Jaideep Gupta submitted that protests onlarge scale took place against the CAA, and that the issue should not beconnected with terrorism at all.
Gupta emphasised that there were some instances of violence at some places butthere was no evidence to suggest that his client was responsible. The SeniorAdvocate added that prima facie it did not amount to an act of terrorism.
The bench replied that it cannot grant bail to him right now and that he couldfile another plea later. "Let the trial proceed. Courts have startedfunctioning now," it said. Gogoi's bail was earlier rejected by theGauhati High Court, which was challenged by him in the top court.