The former editor of the The Sentinel (an English daily of Assam), Bikash Sarma, has been sent behind bars for one month.
The Kamrup district first class magistrate court sentenced the then editor to one month imprisonment on Thursday.
Sarma has been sentenced for “tarnishing the image” of Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the daily in the year 2010 when the former was the editor of the The Sentinel.
The case has been running in the magistrate’s court since 2010 when Himanta was a minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet.
On June 19, 2010 – the English daily published a report quoting KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi’s as saying that, “RH Khan gifted a luxurious car to Himanta Biswa”. Khan was ‘involved’ in the NC Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) multi-crore scam.
Senior advocate Debajit Saikia, while addressing a press conference in Guwahati, informed that the case was registered against editor Bikash Sarma, associate editor Ram Lal Sinha, KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi and Omega printers; though the court granted bail to Ram Lal Sinha and KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi.
“Bikash Sarma has been fined with an amount of Rs 5000,” advocate Saikia added.