Supreme Court Allows Interim Bail To Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera In FIR Over Comment Against PM

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera who was arrested by Assam police from Delhi airport today morning over his comment about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Court ordered that Khera should be released on interim bail on production before the jurisdictional Magistrate at Delhi till the next date of hearing, next Tuesday (February 28). 

In order to protect the petitioner until such date as he applies for regular bail before jurisdictional court, till the next date of listing, petitioner shall be released on interim bail by the Magistrate at Delhi where he is to produced this evening for transit remand, the Court ordered.

The Court also issued notice to the States of UP and Assam, which have registered FIRs against him, on the writ petition filed by Khera seeking consolidation of the FIRs. It also recorded in the order the undertaking given by Khera's lawyer Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi that he will tender unconditional apology for the statement.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice MR Shah and Justice PS Narasimha specially assembled at 3 PM to hear the matter after Senior Advocate Singhvi mentioned the matter at 2PM.

Singhvi informed the bench that Khera was about to board a flight at 11 AM from the Delhi airport, but he was deplaned. Complaints have been filed against him in Assam, Lucknow and Varanasi over certain comments made by him about the Prime Minister. Singhvi said that offences under Section 153A, 153B, 295A, 505 of the Indian Penal Code have been invoked against him.

Expressing concerns over the multiple FIRs, Singhvi said that he is seeking a prayer to consolidate them. "He is sought to be whisked away, by Assam Police at the Delhi airport. We are asking for consolidation. All over the country they are filing these FIRs", the senior counsel said while adding that he does not personally approve of the statements made by Khera. "Whatever the statements are, they should not lead to arrest", he said. 

Singhvi also stated that Khera later clarified in Twitter that he made a genuine mistake regarding the statement about PM Modi. There was no prior notice by the police under Section 41A CrPC before the arrest; and the offences invoked are not attracted with respect to the statement. "If you invoke 153A , 153B and 295A against a political statement, it is wrong. The statement happened in the heat of the debate", he submitted. Singhvi prayed for a direction of ad-interim release and undertook to cooperate with the investigation.

Additional Solicitor General of India Aishwarya Bhati submitted that the arrest has been recorded and the proceedings to produce him before the Magistrate are underway. The ASG said that Khera should invoke the ordinary remedies available under the CrPC instead of directly approaching the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The ASG also disputed Singhvi's submission that the statement happened in mistake and offered to show the video to the Court. "Your lordships will have to see the video. then we'll see if it was a mistake. It's the demeanour in the video which counts. We'll show the video now", ASG said.

The video of the press conference, where Khera called Prime Minister Narendra 'Gautamdas' Modi, while seeking a JPC on Adani issue, was shown to the bench.

"He did a play on words which he shouldn't have as per me. "I genuinely got confused whether it is Damodardas or Gautamdas", he tweeted. He also said I made a mistake", Singhvi said.

"You tell us prima facie how is 153A and 295A is made?", CJI asked the ASG.

"The entire press conference has to be seen. It's a very derogatory manner. It's a very calculated statement. It's a statement which not just insults the PM but invites disaffection and disloyalty. After all he is the duly elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world", ASG said. 

The video in question was played in the Court for everyone to hear and the ASG pointed out that after the using "Gautamdas", Khera made further comments.

"This is adding insult to injury milord. Your lordships may see the facial expressions and the laughs all around. This is deliberate and calculated to insult the PM of the country...", ASG repeated.

Singhvi said that the offences are maximum punishable with 3 to 5 years sentence and as per Arnesh Kumar judgment, there is no requirement for arrest. He also undertook to tender unconditional apology for the statement and said that he is only seeking the relief of immediate release and consolidation of the FIRs so as to seek their quashing before one particular High Court.

After dictating the order, CJI told Singhvi, "We have protected you.. but there has to be some level of discourse".

"I do not support this. But even then, it can't be arrest straight away without 41A- nothing is 7 years here. All are 3 and 5 years...it was held in Arnesh Kumar", Singvhi replied.

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