The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday extended the protection from arrest granted to independent Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi in connection with a case related to anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links till March 13.

The lawmaker, who has allegedly been vocal against the Central government during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests, had moved the top court against the February 9 order of the Gauhati High Court allowing the special NIA court in Assam to proceed with the framing of charges against him in one of the two cases.

A bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal deferred the matter to March 13 after noting that the counsel for the petitioner was not available.

“Interim protection to continue till next date,” the bench said.