Deplaned And Arrested, Pawan Khera Gets Interim Relief From Supreme Court
The apex court also issued a notice to the Assam and U.P. governments to club the three FIRs that have been filed against Khera.
Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court, hours after he was deboarded from a flight in Delhi and arrested by the Assam Police over his recent remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The top court also issued a notice to the Assam and U.P. governments to club the three FIRs that have been filed against the Congress leader in Assam’s Dima Hasao and U.P.’s Lucknow and Varanasi.
"I was asked to deplane as if I was a terrorist. It can happen to anyone tomorrow," Pawan Khera said, after the court order. He said he was leaving for Raipur for the Congress' plenary session and will continue to fight along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his "fearless struggle to take on the BJP".
Khera was deplaned from an Indigo flight to Raipur after a police team from Assam arrived at the airport to arrest him for his complaints against the PM. Multiple complaints have been filed against Khera for using "Gautam Das" instead of "Damodardas" in a press conference he addressed recently on the allegations by U.S.-based Hindenburg Research of financial irregularities by the Adani Group.
The Delhi Police said that Khera was stopped from boarding a plane after a request was received from Assam Police to stop him. Nearly 50 Congress leaders, including Party General Secretary KC Venugopal, MP Randeep Surjewala, and Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate—who were all flying to Raipur for the plenary meeting of the All India Congress Committee—launched a protest at the airport tarmac after Khera was deplaned.
Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan, IGP (Law and Order) and spokesperson of Assam Police, said a team of Assam Police had left for Delhi to take remand of Khera in connection with the case. After the arrest, Assam Police said that Khera was arrested "for a cognizable offence and a warrant was not needed in this case". The police had sought to produce him before the local court in Delhi before seeking transit remand to bring him to Assam.
The FIR, filed at Haflong Police Station on Wednesday, under several sections of the Indian Penal Code—including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (spreading religious enmity), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and others—states that Khera’s remarks are a “deep-rooted conspiracy” to “destabilise the nation made with the intent to incite violence and disturb peace in the society”.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday tweeted, “Make no mistake-pathetic remarks by courtier Pawan Khera on PM’s father have blessings of the top levels of Congress which is full of entitlement and disdain against a person of humble origins being PM. India will not forget or forgive these horrible remarks of Congressmen."
At the court, the judges were shown Khera's video. Khera's lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court, "I, for one, don't believe in crossing boundaries. But if you have crossed boundaries, this can't be the reaction. It was unfortunate. He did a play on words which he shouldn't have as per me. He said it was a mistake."
Meanwhile, Indigo Airlines issued a statement saying that a passenger was deplaned and the flight has been delayed. "Some other passengers have also decided to deboard on their own accord."
Congress MP Randeep Surjewala said the party will fight for the truth and the BJP can’t silence them. "We will fight this legally. Why are they so scared of us? Yesterday, they sent ED after leaders in Chhattisgarh and today there is a fake FIR."
Venugopal said the whole episode was "very unfortunate" and alleged that it was aimed at the party's plenary session in Raipur.
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