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Supreme Court refuses to extend Congress leader Pawan Khera’s anticipatory bail
Khera filed an application against the court’s Wednesday order staying the April 10 Telangana high court order granting him a one-week transit anticipatory bail
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to extend Congress leader Pawan Khera’s anticipatory bail in the case filed against him in Assam for levelling allegations against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, that she held foreign passports.
Khera seeks extension till Gauhati High Court hearing
Khera filed an application against the court’s Wednesday order staying the April 10 Telangana high court verdict granting him a one-week transit anticipatory bail. He said that his pre-arrest bail plea is expected to be heard in the Gauhati high court on Monday. Khera requested that the anticipatory bail be extended until Tuesday.
“Our order was passed on April 15 [Wednesday]. Instead of moving another application here, why did not you file it there?” asked a bench of justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Khera, cited the Supreme Court’s observation on Wednesday that his client filed a “forged and fabricated” Aadhaar card with the bail application in the high court and said the document was filed in haste.
He added that it was replaced with the correct document during the hearing. Singhvi said the court was not informed about this fact.
Centre opposes extension
Singhvi said any remark of the Supreme Court should not influence the hearing on the bail plea. “This court was misled by way of suppression. I made a small error by filing a different document, and this observation made by the court will bind any court deciding the anticipatory bail,” Singhvi said.
The bench remarked, “Small error? You cannot file a forged and fabricated document. And we do not agree that they [Assam police] have taken an order by misleading the court.”
The bench reiterated that when an application seeking anticipatory bail is filed before the competent court, it shall not be influenced by the orders granting transit bail or staying it.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for Assam Police, opposed Khera’s attempt to prolong the anticipatory bail. Mehta said nothing stops Khera from approaching the district court in Assam, which is open on Friday.
The Assam Police challenged the high court order, saying Khera approached the high court based on “forged” documents. It said the alleged offence, the press conference, where Khera made the allegations, took place in Assam, and the case was registered in Assam. The Assam Police said that Khera chose to move the Telangana high court for anticipatory bail. It added that Khera’s Aadhaar card bore his New Delhi residential address.
Khera argued his wife is a resident of Hyderabad and contested the assembly elections there. “This is principally a defamation charge, and just because I have annoyed the chief minister, 100 policemen are sent to Delhi.”
Background
The row between Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pawan Khera began after Khera made remarks in a press interaction.
He claimed Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, had three active foreign passports and muliple undisclosed assets in the US.
Following this, Sarma filed an FIR and authorities launched an investigation based on the complaint. Assam police raided Khera's Delhi house when the Congress leader was away.
Khera moved the Telangana High Court seeking transit anticipatory bail, arguing that he required protection to approach the appropriate court in Assam. The High Court granted him interim relief, allowing him limited protection while directing him to approach the jurisdictional court in Assam for regular bail.
The Himata Sarma government challenged this order in the Supreme Court. The apex court intervened and stayed the Telangana High Court’s transit bail order.
