The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on the anticipatory bail plea by Congress leader Pawan Khera, who faces a case filed by Guwahati Police over allegedly defamatory remarks against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma‘s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma. A bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Atul Chandurkar heard senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Khera, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Assam.
In strong arguments this afternoon, Singhvi labelled this an “unprecedented case” and made sly references to the Assam Chief Minister as the “boss of the boss of the boss of the prosecutor”.
The reference was to comments by Sarma that Singhvi declined to reproduce in court. The words are “unprintable”, he said, contenting himself with telling the court his client had been threatened with life imprisonment. “Dr Ambedkar would turn in his grave if he imagined that a constitutional office-holder would speak like a cowboy or Rambo,” Singhvi declared.
Singhvi also pointed out the bulk of charges against his client were defamation and reputational damage, and neither called for arrest or custodial interrogation, as had been sought. “Let me assume I am convicted ultimately…” he said, “But where is the necessity of arrest? What is there in the case which cannot be done without an arrest?”
An individual’s personal liberty, as guaranteed under Article 21, must be protected, he continued, pointing out also that Pawan Khera is not a “hardened criminal”.
In response, Mehta insisted custodial interrogation of Khera is needed to establish the source of photographs and documents the Congress leader offered to back up his statements about the Chief Minister’s wife. The Solicitor General referred darkly to “foreign elements interfering with our elections (Assam voted April 9)” and also claimed Khera had been “absconding”.
Khera approached the top court after the Gauhati High Court denied his plea last week, ruling the senior Congress leader is a ‘flight risk’ and faces serious charges, including cheating and forgery. It also reasoned the alleged comments were directed at a private individual – the Chief Minister’s wife – and not Sarma himself, which could have been labelled ‘political rhetoric’.
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Accordingly, the Gauhati High Court ruled that custodial interrogation of Khera is required to establish the source and authenticity of documents he cited to make his allegations.
This is the second time in two weeks Pawan Khera has appeared before the Supreme Court in this matter; on April 17 he was told the court would not vacate its stay on a Telangana High Court grant of transit bail. That order — also delivered by Justice Maheshwari and Justice Chandurkar — would have prevented him from being arrested by police from Assam.
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The case follows an April 4 press conference in which Pawan Khera alleged Chief Minister Himanta Sarma’s wife held passports from three countries. He also accused Riniki Sarma of involvement in illegal activities.
He alleged she also owns undisclosed luxury properties in Dubai that are registered to a company in a US state.
The Sarma family has strongly denied these claims, terming the documents “AI-generated fabrications” circulated by Pakistani social media groups. A complaint was subsequently lodged with Guwahati Police.