Delhi court issues notice to Assam CM Himanta Sarma for remarks on ‘Miya Muslims’

‘Miya’ is a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants

New Delhi: A Delhi court has issued a notice to Himanta Biswa Sarma on a plea filed by activist Harsh Mander seeking the registration of an FIR against the Assam chief minister for his “provocative” remarks on “Miya Muslims”.

Additional Sessions Judge Sonu Agnihotri issued the notice to Biswa while hearing a revision petition filed by Mander against the April 20 order of a magisterial court, which refused to order the filing of an FIR against the BJP leader.

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In its order dated May 26, the court said, “The counsel for the petitioner further drew my attention to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for Zero FIR and E-FIR issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs filed by the petitioner on record with the revision petition. In view of the submissions made by the counsel for the petitioner, issue a notice of revision petition to the respondents on filing of appropriate reply for July 15, 2026.”

In April, Mander had moved an application seeking an FIR against Sarma over an allegedly communally charged statement made on January 27 during an event at Digboi in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

According to the plea, Sarma allegedly said that “four to five lakh Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Assam.

‘Miya’ is a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants.

In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting the term as a gesture of defiance.

Mander’s application also claimed that the Assam chief minister incited people against ‘Miyas’ by allegedly saying that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam” and that “we are ensuring that they cannot vote in Assam”.

Before the sessions court, the counsel for Mander argued that the trial court had wrongly dismissed the application on grounds of lack of territorial jurisdiction.

The counsel submitted that information relating to a cognisable offence could be provided to any police station irrespective of where the offence was committed, relying upon the concept of Zero FIR.

The court noted the submissions and said, “Issue notice of revision petition to the respondents.”