Supreme Court refuses to protect Pawan Khera, asks him to move Assam court

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea of Congress leader Pawan Khera seeking protection against possible coercive action till April 20 in a case lodged against him for levelling allegations against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.

The top court asked Khera to move a court of competent jurisdiction in Assam for anticipatory bail in the case.

At a press conference on April 5, Khera alleged that the Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, had multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in Sarma’s election affidavit for the April 9 Assembly polls in that state. The CM and his wife rejected the allegations as false and fabricated.

A bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar on Friday took note of the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Khera, and asked the Assam court that will hear the Congress leader’s plea to not consider adverse remarks, if any, made by the top court and the Telangana High Court in the case. The bench also asked the courts in Assam to take up Khera’s plea expeditiously.

On April 15, the top court stayed a Telangana High Court order granting Khera one-week transit anticipatory bail in the case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam Government, had 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 case against Khera was registered at the Guwahati Crime Branch police station under sections 175 (false statement in connection with an election), 35 (right of private defence of the body and of property) and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.