Guwahati: Assam police have denied permission to hold a candlelight vigil in Guwahati to seek the release of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and the 15 other activists arrested in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case.

However, the police allowed another rally seeking the release of arrested TV anchor Arnab Goswami in Guwahati on November 8.

The vigil for Stan Swamy and others was planned by the Northeast Solidarity (NES) comprising mostly scholars from across northeastern India.

The solidarity on November 5 sought permission to hold the vigil at Dighali Pukhuri from 4:30 to 5:30 November 8 to demand the release of the 16 accused “falsely implicated under the UAPA” in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Apart from Swamy, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Ranchi on October 8, others accused include elderly people such as Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde, said the NES that meets regularly to discuss the changing situation in the country, Jesuit Father Walter Fernandes, a Guwahati-based member, said.

Father Tom Mangattuthazhe , another priest member of the solidarity, says the last to be arrested in the case is 83-year-old Swamy, who has been supporting the tribal communities of Jharkhand state in eastern India.

“They have been arrested on the false charge of being sympathizers of Naxalites (Maoists),” asserts a statement issued by Father Mangattuthazhe.

Father Swamy on November 7 filed a plea before the special NIA court in Mumbai seeking a straw and a sipper cup as “I cannot hold a glass as my hands are unsteady due to Parkinson’s”.

Reacting to the denial of permission for the march, Father Fernandes told The Telegraph the NES had not yet decided its next step.

“We received the order at 4L30 pm on Saturday denying permission to hold the vigil without assigning any reason and we had no time to find out the reason. We feel it’s a part of the government’s strategy not to allow any questioning, any appeal or any discussion on any issue,” said Father Fernandes, a long-time colleague of Fr Swamy.

“We wanted to question the arrest of Stan and so many others through the vigil. We are concerned about the situation where there is no freedom of thought or freedom of expression.”

Meanwhile Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted images of the pro-Arnab Goswami rally. He wrote: “Hundreds of people led by film stars, singers, cultural activists, academics… under Xocheton Nagarik Mancha joined a march to Rajiv Bhawan in Ghy as symbolic protest against @INCIndia in #Maharashtra. They demand immediate release of #ArnabGoswami.”

Guwahati DCP (security and intelligence) Bedanta Rajkhowa confirmed the denial of permission to the NES to organize the vigil.

Rajkhowa told The Telegraph newspaper that permission had been denied because protests in the city can be held only at Chachal.

“Dighali Pukhuri is not a protest site. There is a high court order against holding protests there. If anyone tries to hold a protest or rally without permission, it will be stopped,” he said.

“Even the rally seeking the release of Arnab Goswami was stopped because there was no permission. They wanted to march to Rajiv Bhawan but were turned away.”

Source: telegraphindia.com