ABDURRAHMAN AMAN
GUWAHATI, APRIL 7
Opposition MLA Aminul Islam belonging to All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) leader, who was arrested on Tuesday on allegations of making “misleading and communal remarks” in connection with the quarantine centres in the state, has been booked on charges of sedition. He represents Dhing assembly constituency in Nagaon district of Assam.
Islam was detained by Nagaon police on Monday for questioning but arrested formally on Tuesday. Assam DGP Bhaskar Mahanta said that assembly speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami had been informed about the arrest.
Nagaon police said that Islam had been arrested on the basis of an audio clip in which he had allegedly made “irresponsible comments giving a communal colour to quarantine centres and handling of the COVID-19 situation arising out of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi”.
In the audio clip, Islam has purportedly said that the facilities in quarantine centres in Assam are “worse than detention centres”.
In his remarks on quarantine centres, Islam allegedly said that “the isolation wards are worse than the detention centres. It is nothing but a conspiracy of the government against the Muslim community. The people, who are kept in isolation wards, are in mental trauma as they are well and fit.” He also alleged that “the food given to the people in the isolation wards are not eatable”.
The Assam government has converted two stadiums in Guwahati into makeshift quarantine facilities with a total of 2,000 beds and ensured all 33 districts have designated treatment centres for coronavirus patients.
Accusing the state government of conspiring against Muslims, he said that the medical staff at quarantine centres was harassing the people who had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation in New Delhi last month. He also alleged that the medical staff was giving injections to healthy people to show them as sick and coronavirus patients.
Stating that no one returning from Delhi congregation had tested positive in Assam, he said the first case tested coronavirus positive in Karimganj district had never visited Nizamuddin Markaz and yet, the government claimed the patient’s connection with Delhi congregation. He also accused the media of running fake news on Nizamuddin Markaz and defaming Muslims.
Earlier, the Assam police on Sunday registered a case against Tablighi Jamaat national chief Maulana Mohammed Saad and five Tablighi leaders of the state in connection spreading coronavirus to which the police called “bio-terrorism”.
Out of 26 coronavirus positive cases reported in the state, 25 are alleged to have attended the Tablighi congregation in Delhi. Courtesy: indiatomorrow.net
