The Supreme Court on Friday declined Congress leader Pawan Khera's plea to vacate the stay imposed by it on the transit anticipatory bail granted to him by the Telangana High Court in the forgery and criminal conspiracy case lodged by the Assam Police on Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma.
The Court also turned down Khera's plea to extend the transit bail till next Tuesday so that he can approach the Assam Court on Monday. The bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Atul S Chandurkar observed that if the concerned Court is not functioning, a request can be made to take up the matter, which be considered in accordance with the prevailing practice. The bench also clarified that neither the observations in the High Court's order nor the Supreme Court's stay order should influence the concerned Court while considering Khera's application for anticipatory bail.
For context, the case was registered by Assam Police on the complaint of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, over Khera's allegations that she held multiple passports of different countries.On April 10, the Telangana High Court granted Khera transit anticipatory bail for a week. The State of Assam approached the Supreme Court challenging it. On April 15, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court's order. Khera later filed an application seeking vacation of the stay order.
Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singvhi, for Khera, sought that the transit bail be extended till next Tuesday, so that he can approach the Assam Court on Monday.At this juncture, Justice Maheshwari pointed out the argument of the Solicitor General that Khera filed the petition in the High Court by producing the front of his Aadhaar card and the backside of his wife's Aadhaar card to show residence in Telangana. The SG had argued that the High Court relief was obtained on a fabricated document.
Singhvi submitted that the High Court petition was filed in a hurry and a mix-up of documents happened. He added that before the High Court, further documents were produced to show that Khera's wife has residence in Telangana, and that she was a Telugu who contested Telangana assembly elections. He submitted that the Supreme Court, on April 15, ex-parte stayed the High Court, solely on the Solicitor General's arguments regarding Khera's wife's Aadhaar card.
Justice Maheshwari then asked what was wrong with the Supreme Court's stay order. Singhvi replied that the order was obtained by misleading the Court. This submission was not appreciated by Justice Maheshwari, who pointed out that Khera produced a wrong document before the High Court.
Singhvi argued that personal liberty should not be violated for a "small error" in filing the document, which was corrected later during the hearing with notice to the Assam AG.He added that in a FIR, which was in essence a defamation complaint, hundreds of Assam police were hunting for Khera.
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