GUWAHATI: Police has registered a suo moto case against leftist intellectual and activist Hiren Gohain (80) even as protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 continued across Assam on Thursday.Guwahati police commissioner, Deepak Kumar said that case has been registered against Gohain because the protest meeting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 he attended here on January 7 was held here without any permission. January 7, a day ahead of the Bill was placed in the Lok Sabha , was observed as “Hatred Day “by different organisations opposing the proposed legislation.“As the meeting did not have any prior permission we have to act against it. We will investigate what was discussed at the meeting and thereafter take necessary legal action,” Kumar told TOI.Gohain reportedly said that question of “independence” will come only after the democratic protest for the legitimate demand which is within the framework of Constitution is continued to be ignored by the government Gohain was one of the speakers at the meeting organized by the Citizenship Amendment Bill Virodhi Mancha.“What Gohain and other speakers spoke at the meeting is a matter of investigation,” the police official said.Mancha convener Haidar Hussain said that when the entire state is in protest against the Bill which seeks to grant citizenship to migrants on the basis of religion, the government is using police force to suppress the democratic voice.“Gohain’s speech is wrongly interpreted by police and is now using the tactics of force to undermine the people’s protest against the bill which itself is against the constitution. Gohain exhorted at the meeting about democratic way of protest as well as the rights under the Constitution. If government thinks that it can undermine the protest against the Bill by using police, then it is wrongh,” Hussain said.Meanwhile, hundreds of activists of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and 69 other organisations staged protest against the Bill here by carrying gamosa (traditional Assamese scarf). College students in different parts of the state also joined the protest.

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