india

Updated: Jul 13, 2019 01:03 IST

Ten persons, including poets, have been booked by Assam Police on charges of promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds and criminal conspiracy on a complaint by a freelance journalist that poems they have been writing and sharing on social media allegedly portray the Assamese people as xenophobic.

Deepak Kumar, commissioner of police, Guwahati, said, “We received a complaint on July 10 saying that the poetry, which is being shared widely, poses a threat to the social fabric. Based on that, we have registered an FIR against 10 persons under sections 120(B), 153(A), 187, 295 (B), 188 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of the IT Act,” said Deepak Kumar, commissioner of police, Guwahati. “No one has been arrested. Investigations are on,” he said.

The FIR, lodged on a complaint by Pranabjit Doloi, names 10 persons for writing what is popularly called “Miya Poetry”. The complaint quotes a poem by Kazi Sharowar Hussain that says the poet is a Miya, has two children and is expecting another in the summer, and wonders how the newborn will be treated by society. “...Write down I am a Miya/ A citizen of a democratic republic without any rights…”

According to the complaint, the poem has gone viral on social media and its real intention is allegedly to “motivate and provoke their community against the system and society.” Another intention is allegedly to depict the Assamese people as “xenophobic”, which is a serious threat to the Assamese people as well as to national security and a harmonious social atmosphere.

Doloi said, “I have no problem with their dialect or their poetry as such but the content of the poem in question is offensive. There is nothing called a Miya community in Assam.”

Many Miya poets named in the FIR were unavailable for comment. Forhad Bhuyan, an activist from Barpeta in Lower Assam who was also named, expressed surprise. “I don’t know why my name is there. I have never written any poem,” he said, adding the police were yet to get in touch with him.

Kuladhar Saikia, Assam director general of police and a Sahitya Akademi award winner, refused comment.