New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India reserved its judgment on Thursday on Congress leader Pawan Khera’s plea seeking anticipatory bail. Notably, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma has lodged a defamation case against Khera over his allegation regarding multiple passports.
How did the case develop?
Khera, during a press conference, alleged that Himanta’s wife held passports from multiple countries and displayed images of purported passports. However, the probe has reportedly revealed that the documents are “fake and forged,” and no authority has issued any such passports.
Khera, fearing arrest, first appealed to the Telangana High Court, and it granted him one week’s transit anticipatory bail. But the Supreme Court, on April 15, stayed that relief and directed him to approach the Gauhati High Court, which rejected his anticipatory bail plea, saying that custodial interrogation was important to identify the source of the documents.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi defends Khera in SC
Khera moved the SC challenging the rejection, and a bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Atul Chandurkar heard his plea. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Khera in the court and called the case “unprecedented”. He said that Khera had grounds to be afraid of arrest, especially due to Assam CM’s comments, some of which he described as “unprintable”. He said Dr BR Ambedkar “would turn in his grave” if he saw a CM speaking like a “constitutional cowboy” or “constitutional Rambo.”
Singhvi argued that the case did not warrant arrest or custodial interrogation, and added that Khera is available for questioning. He strongly opposed the “humiliation through custodial interrogation”. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Assam government, opposed the plea and argued that what Khera did during the press conference was more than defamation. He said that Khera was “absconding” since the FIR was registered and custodial interrogation was necessary to determine who allegedly forged the documents.