Supreme Court Adjourns Congress Leader Pawan Khera's Plea for Quashing of Criminal Proceedings over Alleged 'Gautam Das' Remark against PM Modi

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned to Monday, October 16, the hearing of a plea by Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera for quashing of criminal proceedings against him over an alleged remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra was hearing a special leave petition against an order of the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash the criminal proceedings against Khera over his alleged 'Narendra Gautam Das Modi' comment made at a press conference in Mumbai.

Before the hearing was deferred until next week, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Congress leader, briefly made his submissions on the sustainability of the criminal proceedings. Khera had clarified that his comment was made inadvertently and he promptly apologised for it in a separate tweet, the senior counsel told the bench at the outset. "This is noted in the order."

"Second, and more importantly, see the stretching of the sections," Singhvi continued, taking the court through the charges levelled against Khera, which include that of defamation, attempting to degrade and destablise the nation, promoting enmity and hatred between different groups, and disturbing public peace. "This was not the intention at all. They have completely stretched it," Singhvi exclaimed.

After this, the senior counsel sought a pass-over so that a chart of relevant judgments could be presented to the bench. Although initially the bench had only passed over the matter, in the end, it adjourned the hearing until Monday.