In a major setback to Congress leader Pawan Khera, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (15th April) overturned a Telangana High Court order that granted him one-week anticipatory bail (transit protection). Khera had sought the anticipatory bail in connection with an FIR filed by the Assam police against him on the complaint of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, whom Khera had accused of holding passports of different countries.
A Bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar passed the order and issued notice on the petition filed by the Assam Police against the Telangana High Court order. Khera had submitted a note before the court claiming that his wife resided in Hyderabad, Telangana, to invoke the jurisdiction of the Telangana High Court. However, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state of Assam, apprised the court that Khera’s wife’s Aadhaar Card showed her as a resident of Delhi.
“He places on record the Aadhaar card on page 98, where his wife is staying in Delhi. He places both. Which shows that even his wife stays in Delhi. Sometimes he keeps travelling. Is this the law? Someone can buy or rent 10 properties in 10 different states. This will qualify as forum choosing. This is abuse of law,” the Supreme Court said, rebuking Khera. “We are surprised (by the High Court’s order),” Justice Maheshwari said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Assam Police, said that Khera used a forged document to take advantage of the High Court’s jurisdiction. “Ld. Counsel submits that the respondent applied for regular bail to the high court as per the prayer made in the bail in Telangana, though the offence was committed at Guwahati. The document Aadhar card has been used. The front page of the Aadhar card is the name of respondent no. 1, but the backside indicates the address of his wife. Thus, by furnishing a forged document, the respondent took advantage of the jurisdiction of the Telangana High Court…” the Supreme Court said.
Staying his anticipatory bail, the court said that if Khera applied for anticipatory bail before a court having jurisdiction in Assam, then the interim order would have no bearing on the consideration of his application. “Considering all these aspects, issue notice. Impugned order stayed. If the petitioner applies for anticipatory bail in the court having jurisdiction in Assam, the order passed by this court may not have any adverse inference. Notice returnable in 3 weeks,” the apex court said.
The Telangana High Court on Friday (10th April) granted one-week anticipatory bail (transit protection) to Congress leader and AICC media and publicity department chairperson Pawan Khera in connection with Riniki Bhuyan Sharma’s FIR. The FIR WAS lodged at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 175 (false statement in connection with an election), Sections 35 and 36 (general conspiracy), 318 (cheating), 338 and 337 (forgery of valuable security and public records), 340 (using forged document as genuine), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 356 (defamation).
The complaint was filed after the Congress leader presented several forged documents to claim that Riniki Bhuyan Sharma has passports of three countries and properties in Dubai and USA. Assam BJP has produced the original documents, which were used to produce the fake documents.
