New Delhi: Hours after Congress leader Pawan Khera was arrested by the Assam Police from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the Supreme Court ordered that he be released on interim bail.
Khera, who heads the media wing of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), was stopped from flying to Chhattisgarh after the Assam Police reached IGIA to arrest him over his “derogatory remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
Later in the day, a bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud said Khera should be released on interim bail on production before a Delhi court. The interim relief will be in effect till 28 February. Arguing on behalf of Khera, Abhishek Singhvi argued that the petitioner is not pressing for quashing of FIRs registered against him and only urging that the FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh and Assam be clubbed.
Khera, along with other Congress leaders, was boarding an IndiGo flight to Raipur to attend the All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary session when he was deplaned.
“A team from Haflong went to Delhi to arrest Khera for a case registered by Assam Police on 22 February. He will be brought to Guwahati for questioning,” Assam Police spokesperson Prasanta Bhuyan told ThePrint.
According to the Assam Police, the FIR against Khera was registered on a complaint by a private individual from Haflong in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, accusing him of “disrupting peace and harmony by his remarks”. A police official confirmed that the case was registered at Haflong police station under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A similar FIR was also registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police at Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station on a complaint by city-based BJP leader Mukesh Sharma who alleged that Khera “intentionally made fun” of PM Modi’s late father.
Reacting to Khera’s arrest Thursday and the protest that followed, IndiGo issued a statement which was later withdrawn. A fresh statement from the airline is awaited.
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‘Undemocratic, illegal, dictatorship’
Addressing a press conference on 17 February, Khera had said that if former prime ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee could endorse a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), “what is the problem of Narendra Gautamdas, sorry….Narendra Damodardas Modi”. He then asked if Modi’s name is “Gautamdas” or Damodardas and is told the correct name. “Name is Damodardas but deeds are of Gautamdas,” he had said.
His remarks aligned with the opposition’s demand for a JPC on the Hindenburg Research report accusing the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”. The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “facilitating” the growth of the Adani Group owing to group chairman Gautam Adani’s rapport with PM Modi.
Following Khera’s remarks, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had slammed the Congress spokesperson for allegedly mocking the prime minister’s name and that of his father. The country will not forgive “these horrible remarks of Congressmen”, he had remarked.
Soon after Khera was stopped from flying to Raipur, nearly 50 party leaders staged a protest at the tarmac at the IGIA, right beside the aircraft he was supposed to board. The leaders, who were on the way to Raipur, deboarded the plane raised slogans accusing the BJP of using “undemocratic” and “dictatorial” measures to target the opposition.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said in a tweet, “Modi government is acting like a bunch of goons by deplaning Pawan Khera from the Delhi-Raipur flight and preventing him from joining the AICC Plenary. Using a flimsy FIR to restrict his movement and silence him is a shameful, unacceptable act. The entire party stands with Pawan ji.”
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala termed Khera’s detention completely “illegal”.
“We were on our way to Raipur but Mr Khera was stopped. He was told his bag had been left behind. Police said that Assam police has registered an FIR but when we asked for details of the case, they did not tell us anything. They did not have a warrant, any order or an FIR. This is illegal,” he wrote on Twitter.
Surjewala added, “They said it was the Assam CM’s order. What sort of dictatorship is this?”
(This report has been updated to accommodate additional inputs)
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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