Assam police on Wednesday arrested three people who were associated with setting up a ‘Miya museum’, under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, The Indian Express reported. However, police said that it was not related to the setting up of the museum that was sealed on Tuesday, just two days after its inauguration.

The ‘Miya’ community in Assam refers to Bengali-origin Muslims in the state, who are often derided as illegal immigrants or “Bangladeshis”, and called as ‘Miyas’.

The controversial ‘Miya Museum’, set up in a house allotted under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) in Dapkabhita in Assam’s Goalpara district, was sealed on Tuesday. It was sealed on grounds that it was set up in a house that was allotted to Ali under the central government scheme.

The three who have been arrested are All Assam Miya Parishad president M Mohar Ali, general secretary Abdul Baten Sheikh and Tanu Dhadhumia.

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Ali was arrested from his house in Dapkarbhita area of Goalpara district the museum was set up, Sheikh was held from his Alamganj residence and Dhadhumia, was arrested from Dibrugarh. He had launched the museum.

Speaking to IE, Goalpara Superintendent of Police V V Rakesh Reddy said that Ali was arrested in connection with a case registered at the Ghograpar police station in Nalbari.

Special Director General of Assam Police G P Singh said on Twitter that the trio have been arrested under Sections 120 (B), 121, 121(A), 122 of the India Penal Code, read together with Sections 10/13 of the UAPA.

They have been taken to two-day police remand, and their association with the Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT) is also being probed.

The items on display at the museum are generally by members of the community such as lungi, langol, pitha (a form of rice cake), and some farming equipment. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that the items did not belong to the community but were “Assamese”, adding “only the lungi is theirs”.

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Meanwhile, the Congress, criticising the arrests, said that these were efforts for “religious polarisation”.

“It’s a free country. Anybody can keep their forefather’s things and call it a museum,” Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia said, adding that issues like Assamese not being compulsory in civil services exam, halting of Assamese language radio broadcast from Upper Assam, are things that the Assam government-led by Sarma must take up.