Telangana HC gives Pawan Khera 1-week protection, tells him to move Assam court
New Delhi: The Telangana High Court has granted week-long transit anticipatory bail to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera in the defamation, forgery and criminal conspiracy case against him in Assam over his allegations against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.
A Bench of Justice K. Sujana ruled that after one week, Khera can approach the “appropriate forum” in Assam for regular anticipatory bail.
Initially, the petitioner’s lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, objected, but the court remarked, “If he is such a great person, he can move an application before the appropriate court.”
Usually, the objective of such transit anticipatory bail is to protect individuals from arrest, while they are travelling so that they can seek regular anticipatory bail in a jurisdiction that is different from their current location.
Although Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023 has not incorporated the term “transit anticipatory bail” or “extra-territorial bail”, such bail has previously been granted by Indian courts as early as 1980—by the Delhi High Court in Pritam Singh vs State of Punjab.
The case against Khera & what his plea said
The case against Khera was registered in the aftermath of statements by him last week, claiming that CM Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan possessed several foreign passports, and undisclosed assets in different countries. He moved the Telangana High Court for protection because he is currently residing in Hyderabad.
Khera told the court that Sarma immediately countered the allegations and said that he would send the police to arrest him within 48 hours.
Khera’s plea noted that a case had been registered against him by Assam Police under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), in connection with offences such as criminal conspiracy, forgery, criminal intimidation, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, statements conducive to public mischief, among others.
Calling this an “abuse of the process of law”, Khera argued that this was being done with the intention of harassing and intimidating him.
There are no direct allegations or credible material, either oral or documentary, linking him to the commission of the alleged offences, the plea said, calling the allegations “vague, bald, and devoid of particulars”. The CM’s complaint failed to satisfy the essential ingredients of the offences invoked, it added.
Khera also said that the case against him was a result of ulterior motives and political vendetta. Being a prominent political leader and spokesperson, he had made statements in the course of his political duties, which have been selectively targeted to initiate criminal proceedings, he argued before court.
On Wednesday, Congress leader Pawan Khera had accused the Assam CM of “unleashing” the state police on him, instead of addressing the opposition party’s questions, PTI had reported.
In a recorded video addressed to Sarma from an undisclosed location, Khera had said, “Our party had only asked you some questions. Why do you want to silence us? We have asked questions; give us the replies. Instead of replying, you are hurling abuses at everyone, you have put police behind me. I am not afraid of them. But I am avoiding them as I have more questions to ask.”
A day later, speaking to media persons at the state BJP headquarters after polling for the assembly election had ended, Sarma said, “We have put the police behind Khera. Whom else will we put? It is not the ULFA that is after him; it is the police. If there is an FIR, it is the duty of the police to act on it.”
However, underlining that the police’s actions were “arbitrary and coercive”, Khera argued before the high court that repeated issuance of summons and attempts to precipitate arrest without adequate material violated his fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Arrest at a premature stage without proper investigation would amount to punitive action rather than preventive action, contrary to the settled principles of criminal jurisprudence, his plea said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
Also Read: ‘Reputational damage before polls’: What’s in Assam CM Himanta’s wife’s FIR against Pawan Khera
