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Two Months On, Assam Student In Jail For Writing An 'Anti-National' Facebook Post

Barshashree Buragohain, a19-year-old Assam student has been in jail since May for her Facebook post allegedly supporting a banned outfit

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Ragini Daliya
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A 19-year-old Assam student has been in jail since May for her Facebook post allegedly supporting a banned outfit. Amid growing demands for her release and a backlash on social media, the police have said her arrest was "as per law."
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Barshashree Buragohain, an Assam student arrested on May 18, has been booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Buragohain is a second-year Bachelor of Science student at the DCB Girls College in Jorhat. She was arrested for a Facebook post made on April 18, which has been deleted. Her family on Wednesday appealed that she be released immediately on bail, a local news channel reported.

She is reportedly lodged in the Golaghat district jail. The case is being currently heard at the Gauhati High Court, and the next hearing is slated for July 21.

Following demands to release her, the Assam Police Special DGP (law and order) GP Singh tweeted on Wednesday that “due process was being followed”. Singh cited the words “akou korim rastro druh” (we will continue to be seditious) and said that Buragohain had made a “specific call to indulge in waging war.”

“When someone publicly professes support for a banned organisation and declares the intent of waging war against the Indian state, we are legally bound to prosecute that person. Following due process, a charge sheet shall be filed in a competent court of law. Let the law take its own course,” the senior police officer added.

Assam student arrested over 'anti-national poem'

On Wednesday, several social media users appealed for her release. Buragohain’s parents also sought her immediate release citing her examinations.

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“Her final exam is from July 16,” said Usha Buragohain, the student’s mother. “You have kept her in jail because of writing a poem. This is totally injustice. Her study life has been finished and as the exam is from July 16, we demand immediate bail for my daughter."

Her brother Arindom told that she was “suddenly arrested” when she was visiting a friend in a neighbouring town in May. “I do not know what she wrote exactly but she keeps writing on Facebook. But we know that she is not connected to any anti-national group or the ULFA.

Assam Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told reporters that Buragohain had written she was going to join the United Liberation Front of Asom and was also luring others to join the banned outfit.

In her Facebook post, Buragohain had written: “Now a days having a revolutionary mind is seen as anti-national... if this is the case I will repeatedly indulge in such anti-national activities.”

She had, however, not said anything about joining the United Liberation Front of Asom, reports Scroll.


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Assam Student Barshashree Buragohain
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