GUWAHATI: Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Monday threatened to take legal recourse under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for publicly disclosing private information about his minor son and daughter, aged nine and five years.
Section 74 of the Act prohibits the disclosure of a juvenile’s identity in media or public records. Sarma claimed on Sunday that Gogoi had surrendered his son’s passport so that the minor could get British citizenship. “It was mentioned in the passport that the child was a Hindu. However, the religion column was left blank when he was issued a British passport,” Sarma said, adding the religion of the daughter in the passport has been mentioned as Christian since birth.
Gogoi said he did not deliberately approach the court against the SIT probe linked to his Pakistan visit in 2013, as the ruling BJP would have then said he did not want the inquiry to proceed. “The CM could not give evidence in support of his allegation that I am an agent of another country. He realised that there was no substance in the SIT report. He said that being an MP, I should have obtained permission before my visit and yesterday, he said I visited the country before becoming an MP,” Gogoi said.
Explaining the purpose of his visit, he said, “We were newly married then. My wife worked under an international climate programme in Pakistan for one year.” He said although the trip was initially planned for Lahore, he had sought permission to visit Islamabad, where his wife worked. He added that another purpose was to see Takshashila (Taxila), an archaeological wonder of the Indus Valley Civilisation. He said he had visited Islamabad with due permission.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister wrote on X, “Takshashila is not located in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi district. If his Pakistan visa explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, how did he visit Takshashila?”
‘Wife didn’t share IB reports with Pak national’
Gaurav Gogoi dismissed the charge that his wife had shared IB reports with Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. “As part of the (climate) programme, they are required to submit relevant data. She had picked up the information from media reports. Secondly, she had closed down her Pakistani bank account after moving to India. She needed one in Pakistan as she had to buy essentials,” he clarified.