Ashish Ranjan
Pawan Khera arrest: Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered a Delhi court to release Congress leader Pawan Khera on interim bail after he was apprehended by Assam police for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud ruled that Khera would be released on interim parole upon his production before the competent magistrate in Delhi.
Khera was en route to Raipur for the Congress plenary session when he was requested to disembark at Delhi airport and detained by Delhi Police. For his alleged remarks against the prime minister, he was subsequently arrested by Assam Police in connection with a case registered at the Haflong police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153A (disturbing religious harmony), 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national interest), 500 (punishment for defamation), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).
The Congress official petitioned the Supreme Court for relief from the multiple FIRs lodged against him in Assam, Lucknow, and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, for his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Modi.Khera had recently misspelt the complete name of Prime Minister Modi in an apparent dig at business magnate Gautam Adani. He maintained, however, that it was merely a mistake of the tongue, and that one should not read too much into it.
Abhishek Singhvi, a senior advocate and party colleague of Khera, argued in the apex court that the language used during the press conference was incorrect and that he would not abide by it. He added that the petitioner would also offer an apology without conditions.”He (Khera) has spoken during a press conference. He has made statements that I cannot repeat in court but that I would not have made myself.”
However, Singhvi argued that the multiple FIRs in various states constituted intentional harassment and urged the Supreme Court to consolidate all FIRs under one jurisdiction.Chandrachud informed Singhvi that his client has been granted protection, but that “there must be some dialogue.”
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The apex court issued notices to the states of Assam and Uttar Pradesh, requesting their responses to Khera’s petition for the consolidation of multiple FIRs lodged against him in Assam, Lucknow, and Varanasi for his alleged comments against the prime minister.
