Supreme Court Grants Anticipatory Bail to Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera in Forgery Case Linked to Assam CM's Wife

NEW DELHI: Citing the verbal duel between Congress's Pawan Khera and BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma in the surcharged build-up to the recent polls, Supreme Court said the allegations against the Assam CM's wife and counter-allegations made by her appear to be politically motivated, reports Amit Anand Choudhary. The court granted anticipatory bail to the Congress spokesperson, saying the situation did not warrant custodial interrogation. A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar held that the right to personal liberty is a cherished fundamental right, and any deprivation thereof must be justified on a higher threshold, particularly where the surrounding circumstances may indicate the presence of political overtones. Khera was apprehending arrest by Assam police which tried unsuccessfully to take him into custody after Sarma's wife registered an FIR accusing him of forgery among other things. Can't lose sight of Himanta's unparliamentary remarks: Supreme Court Citing the verbal duel between Pawan Khera and Himanta Biswa Sarma in the surcharged build up to the recent polls, the Supreme Court said the allegations against Assam CM's wife and counter allegations made by her, appear to be politically motivated rather than disclosing a situation warranting custodial interrogation and granted anticipatory bail to the Congress spokesperson. A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar held that the right to personal liberty is a cherished fundamental right, and any deprivation thereof must be justified on a higher threshold, particularly where the surrounding circumstances may indicate the presence of political overtones. It granted pre-arrest bail to Khera who was apprehending arrest by Assam police which had unsuccessfully tried to take him into custory after Sarma's wife registered an FIR against the spokesperson accusing him of forgery among other things. It, however, barred the politician from leaving the country without court's approval and directed him to cooperate in the investigation and to appear before the police station as and when required and intimated. In a high-wattage press conference, Khera had accused Rinki of having obtained citizesnhip of other countries and owning companies overseas. However, Rinki and her spouse dubbed the documents Khera had dramatically brandished as crude forgeries and registered an FIR against him. Khera immediately left Guwahati and secured transit anticipatory bail from Telangana High Court. Assam govt moved Supreme Court saying that Khera had misled Telangana HC to secure the breather. The apex court agreed and asked the Congressman to seek relief from Gauhati HC. Khera moved SC after Gauhati HC did not give him anticipatory bail. The court noted that as per the prosecution the passports purported to be belonging to CM's wife which was displayed by Khera are fake and it was done to defame the wife of the CM and to cause harm to their reputation. "However, it primarily appears that merely to gain some political momentum in favour of his party, this statement has been made by the Appellant. Albeit, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the Chief Minister of the State, who is also husband of the complainant, has made certain unparliamentary remarks against the Appellant in various press statements," the court noted. Though the apex court had earlier refused to grant any interim protection to him to allow to file bail plea in Gauhati HC but this time the scale of justice got tilted in his favour as his lawyer and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi highlighted various statements made by Assam CM to convince the court that the state govt is hellbent on arresting him anyhow. Even the court recorded those statements in its order.