Supreme Court reserves verdict on Pawan Khera’s plea against denial of anticipatory bail

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on a plea filed by Congress leader Pawan Khera challenging the Gauhati High Courtrsquos order rejecting his anticipatory bail application in connection with a criminal case registered by the Assam Police over his alleged remarks against the wife of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa SarmaA Bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar reserved the verdict after hearing extensive submissions from senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Khera and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the State of AssamDuring the hearing Singhvi argued that the essence of the case pertained to allegations of defamation and reputational harm which did not justify custodial arrest or interrogationThe senior counsel contended that even if the allegations were assumed at face value there was no legal necessity for arrest particularly when adequate safeguards could be imposed to ensure Kherarsquos cooperation with the investigationldquoWhere is the necessity of arrest Why is it necessary to humiliate with custodial interrogationrdquo Singhvi submitted asserting that personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution must be protectedDescribing the Assam Policersquos attempt to arrest Khera as disproportionate Singhvi told the apex court that 5060 policemen had descended on Delhi ldquoas if he is a terroristrdquo while stressing that most of the offences invoked in the FIR were bailable in natureHe further submitted that Khera was neither a hardened criminal nor a flight risk but an active political leader facing what was essentially a politically motivated prosecutionSinghvi also sharply criticised public statements made by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma terming the language used by the constitutional officeholder as that of a ldquoconstitutional cowboyrdquoHe argued that CM Sarmarsquos rhetoric reflected political hostility and rendered judicial protection necessaryOpposing the plea Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the case was not a mere defamation dispute but involved serious allegations of forgery and fabrication of official documentsSG Mehta informed the Justice Maheshwariled Bench that Khera had publicly displayed purported copies of passports allegedly belonging to the Chief Ministerrsquos wife but investigation had revealed that these documents were doctored and fabricatedHe further stated that fake documents relating to a company allegedly registered in the United States were also circulatedThe Solicitor General stressed that custodial interrogation was essential to uncover the source of the forged materials identify accomplices and investigate whether foreign elements were involved in fabricating such documents to interfere with the electoral processldquoAs an investigating agency we need to know who forged these documents what the intent was and whether there were larger conspiracies including foreign involvementrdquo SG Mehta submittedHe also alleged that Khera had been absconding since the registration of the FIR and maintained that custodial interrogation was qualitatively distinct from ordinary questioningThe criminal case against Khera arises from allegations that he made false claims regarding Riniki Bhuyan Sarma wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma including assertions that she possessed multiple foreign passports and undisclosed overseas assetsThe FIR registered by Assam Police invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to false statements cheating forgery and defamationEarlier the Gauhati High Court had rejected Kherarsquos anticipatory bail plea holding that the matter could not be treated as defamation simpliciter and that prima facie materials disclosed cognisable offences beyond reputational harmKhera subsequently approached the Supreme Court challenging the denial of prearrest protectionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever