SC stays Telangana HC order granting one-week transit anticipatory bail to Pawan Khera

In a setback to Congress leader Pawan Khera, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Telangana High Court order granting him one-week transit anticipatory bail in a case registered for levelling allegations against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar issued notice to Khera and others seeking their responses on the plea filed by the Assam Government challenging the Telangana High Court’s April 10 order.

“Considering all the aspects, issue notice. In the meantime, operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed,” the bench said.

It made clear that in case Khera applies for anticipatory bail before the court having jurisdiction in Assam, the order passed by the apex court would not have any adverse inference while deciding such a plea.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam Government, argued that it was a case of lack of territorial jurisdiction and no averment was there in Khera’s plea as to why he had moved the Telangana High Court.

“The offence is committed in Assam. The FIR is registered in Assam,” Mehta said, adding that it was a “forum choosing”.

“This is a complete abuse of the process. He (Khera) does not say why he is not going to Assam and why he can’t go to Assam,” the top law officer said while seeking a stay on the high court order.

Mehta said the high court had missed that one of the offences alleged against Khera was punishable with a sentence of up to 10 years.

The bench observed that during the hearing before the high court, Khera had submitted a note stating that his wife was staying at Hyderabad.

Mehta said that, as per the address mentioned in the Aadhaar card, his wife was shown to be residing in Delhi.

He questioned whether merely having some property, whether owned or rented, confers jurisdiction, as someone can buy or rent 10 properties in 10 different places.

Mehta said, “This would be a case of forum choosing”, which was frowned upon by the apex court in some of its judgements.

The bench observed that Khera has also filed an application seeking an extension of anticipatory bail by three weeks.

The top court, while issuing notice on the plea, posted it for hearing after three weeks.

With the staying of the high court’s order granting relief to Khera, the Assam police may take coercive action against the Congress leader in the case.

On April 10, the high court had granted one-week transit anticipatory bail to Khera with certain conditions and gave him a week to file an application before the court concerned.

The Congress leader had, on April 5, in a press conference, alleged that Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the chief minister’s election affidavit for the April 9 Assembly polls in that State.

The Sarmas had rejected the allegations as false and fabricated.

The case against Khera was registered at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under several sections of the BNS sections, including 175 (false statement in connection with an election), 35 (Right of private defence of the body and of property) and 318 (cheating).

“Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this court is of the view that the petitioner has made out a case for the grant of limited transit anticipatory bail, as his apprehension of arrest appears to be reasonable and supported by material on record,” the high court had said in its order.

The conditions were that the petitioner shall be released on bail in the event of arrest on his executing a personal bond for `one lakh with two sureties for the like sum each, cooperate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation as and when required by the investigating officer and that he shall not leave the country without prior permission of the competent court.

The conditions further include that the petitioner shall, within the stipulated period, approach the competent jurisdictional court in Assam and seek appropriate relief and he, being a public figure, shall exercise restraint in making any further public statements in relation to the subject matter of the present case, which may prejudice the investigation, the order said.

Khera, who approached the high court on April 7, showed his residential address in Hyderabad. He had requested the high court to release him on bail in the event of his arrest.