On Thursday, Khera was arrested by the Assam Police in connection with an FIR over alleged reflections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday claimed that Congress leader Pawan Khera has “proffered an unconditional reason” for his alleged objectionable reflections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The criminal has proffered an unconditional reason. We hope that by keeping the sanctity of public spaces, no one will use uncultivated language in political discourse henceforth. @assampolice will follow the matter to its logical end,” Sarma twittered sharing a dupe of the writ supplication filed by Khera in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court granted bail
The day saw a high drama that began with him being entrapped from a flight to Raipur and his party leaders protesting on the tarmac. Khera, who was in the captions this week for apparently fumbling on the Prime Minister’s father’s name during a press conference, was released on interim bail till February 28th by a Delhi court subsequently in the evening on the directions of the Supreme Court.
After dictating the order granting interim bail, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, apparently displeased with the Congress leader’s reflections, told senior advocate A M Singhvi, who was representing Khera, “We have defended you (Khera) but needs to be a point of contention.”
“He (Khera) spoke during a news conference. He has made certain statements which I can’t say in the court but I would not have made such statements,” Singhvi, also Khera’s party colleague, said in the apex court.
In Raipur, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh thanked the Supreme Court for granting the relief to Khera. About the Supreme Court order granting interim bail, he said it showed that ”despite all the sweat of the Modi government the bar remains a beacon for our democracy. Tiger Zinda Hai, Supreme Court Zinda Hai (Tiger is still alive, Supreme Court is still alive).”
The Assam Police said in court that Khera had used “derogatory reflections” against a democratically tagged Prime Minister. His counsel argued that he would apologize for his reflections on the high minister and that the charges against him do not bear arrest.
The case against Khera was registered at the Haflong police station in Assam under various sections of the IPC, including 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to public interest), 500 (discipline for defamation), and 504 (purposeful personality with intent to provoke breach of peace).
In his criticism of the government over the dispute surrounding the Gautam Adani-led business empire, Khera referred to the Prime Minister as “Narendra Gautamdas Modi.” The apparent fluff led to strong condemnation from the BJP with its leaders accusing Khera of making fun of the Prime Minister and his late father.