Assam news: SC denies relief to Pawan Khera in Sarma’s wife passport row

Congress leader Pawan Khera, who is facing a criminal case for his remarks against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, landed in further trouble on Friday as the Supreme Court refused to entertain his plea seeking protection against possible coercive action by the Assam Police till April 20.

A Bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Atul S Chandurkar refused to vacate its April 15 order staying the anticipatory bail granted to Khera by the Telangana High Court and asked him to move a court of competent jurisdiction in Assam for anticipatory bail in the case.

The Bench chose not to accept the submissions made by senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi, representing the Congress leader, to extend the transit bail till next Tuesday to enable him to approach an Assam Court on Monday.

The top court’s refusal makes Khera vulnerable to coercive action by the Assam Police. Earlier on April 7, the Assam Police accompanied by the Delhi Police personnel, had visited Khera’s residence in the national capital. Officials had claimed recovery of “incriminating” material during searches.

The SC Bench asked courts in Assam to take up Khera’s plea expeditiously without getting influenced by adverse remarks, if any, made by it and the Telangana High Court in the case.

Spelling trouble for Khera, the Supreme Court had on April 15 stayed the Telangana High Court’s order granting him one-week transit anticipatory bail in the case.

Acting on a petition filed by the Assam Government’s petition against the April 10 order of the Telangana High Court, the Bench had stayed the HC order, noting that Khera had submitted the Aadhaar number of his wife to show that she resided in Telangana to invoke the jurisdiction of that High Court.

On behalf of the Assam Government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had pointed out that Khera moving the Telangana High Court for bail in a case lodged in Assam was a “complete abuse of process” and amounted to “forum shopping”. He had added that the HC ignored the fact that one of the offences that Khera was accused of carried a maximum punishment of 10-year imprisonment.

The SC had expressed surprise over the High Court’s order, saying, “The document Aadhaar card has been used… The front page of the Aadhaar card is the name of respondent no. 1 (Pawan Khera) but the backside indicates the address of his wife. Thus, by furnishing a forged document the respondent took advantage of jurisdiction of the Telangana High Court.”

On Friday, Singhvi clarified that the High Court petition was filed in a hurry and a mix-up of documents happened. However, further documents were produced to show that Khera’s wife has residence in Telangana, and that she was a Telugu, who contested the Telangana Assembly elections.

The Telangana High Court had granted interim protection from arrest to Khera to enable him to move the competent court in Assam and seek regular bail in the case.

The Assam Police had registered an FIR in Guwahati over allegations arising from Khera’s April 5 press conference, in which he alleged that Chief Minister Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma held multiple passports and foreign properties that were not disclosed in the Chief Minister’s election affidavit for the April 9 Assembly poll.

During the hearing before the Telangana High Court, Singhvi had argued that the FIR was a product of political vendetta and that the Congress leader was being targeted for questioning the Assam CM and his family. The allegations, even if assumed to be incorrect, would at best constitute defamation and not warrant arrest, he had argued.

Assam Advocate General Devajit Saikia had questioned the maintainability of Khera’s petition before the Telangana High Court on the ground that being a resident of Delhi; the Congress leader had no compelling reason to seek relief in Telangana.