Assam government has formed an advisory board headed by retired Gauhati high court judge P.G. Aggarwal as per the National Security Act (NSA) to prosecute farmers’ rights activist Akhil Gogoi.

Gogoi, leader of the popular Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), was detained by the Assam police on September 25 under the NSA. As per section 9 of the Act, a person arrested under it would be tried by an advisory board formed by the appropriate government consisting of three persons “who are, or have been or are qualified to be appointed as judges of a high court”. If the board reports that there is sufficient cause for detention, the appropriate government may confirm the detention order.

In such a case, Gogoi would have to approach the Gauhati high court for relief.

A vocal opponent of the ruling BJP government and its ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Gogoi has been charged of “waging war against the state” by urging people at a public rally to pick up guns. He, along with a few others, spoke at the rally held in Moran town in upper Assam to oppose the Narendra Modi government’s decision to grant citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis in violation of the Assam Accord. The Accord was signed in 1985 between the then Central government and student leaders spearheading a popular agitation in the state against undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.