FIR filed against journalist Abhisar Sharma for accusing Assam CM of engaging in communal politics

The Assam Police on Thursday filed a first information report against journalist and YouTuber Abhisar Sharma for accusing Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of engaging in communal politics.

The Guwahati Crime Branch has filed the case against Sharma under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to acts endangering national unity and sovereignty, promoting enmity between groups and making assertions prejudicial to national integration.

The case was filed based on a complaint by Alok Baruah, a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Baruah can be seen in photographs with several state ministers such as Jayanta Malla Baruah and Pijush Hazarika, and with state BJP chief Dilip Saikia.

Baruah alleged that Sharma ridiculed and denigrated the Union government and Assam government, and thus endangered national sovereignty. He claimed that the journalist “ridiculed the principle of Ram Rajya [or the reign of the Hindu deity Ram], and openly accused the chief minister of Assam of communal politics”.

The complainant alleged that Sharma claimed “without any basis” that Sarma’s politics was based solely on Hindu-Muslim polarisation. He claimed that through such comments, the journalist was trying to provoke disorder by portraying...

Read more