Supreme Court Grants Pawan Khera Interim Bail After Airport Arrest

Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh slammed the “arbitrary action” against Khera, saying it is part of a series of moves made by the Narendra Modi government to derail the party’s 85th plenary session.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon granted interim bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera, who had been made to get off a plane and then was arrested by the Assam police from the Delhi airport. The apex court also issued a notice to the Assam and Uttar Pradesh Police to club all the FIRs against Khera.

Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh slammed the “arbitrary action” against Khera, saying it is part of a series of moves made by the Narendra Modi government to derail the party’s 85th plenary session. He said that Khera’s arrest came after ED raids against Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh who were directly or indirectly involved in organising the plenary session.

The FIRs are reportedly about a speech Khera made on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We also accept that taken on their face value, the spoken words do not lead to the sections invoked in the FIR. Hence we order: issue notice on the prayer to transfer and club all FIRs registered against Khera,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said.

At a recent press conference on the Adani-Hindenburg affair, Khera had made a mistake with Modi’s name. “If Narasimha Rao could form a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), if Atal Bihari Vajpayee could form a JPC, then what problem does Narendra Gautam Das…sorry Damodardas…Modi have?” he said. His lawyers told the court on Thursday that this was a slip of the tongue and he had apologised, NDTV reported.

Earlier in the day, Khera was stopped by the Delhi Police from boarding a plane to Chhattisgarh’s Raipur from Delhi, today, February 23. It was unclear at the time why, with Khera saying that even he does not know why he was deboarded.

“Today senior Congress leaders were going from Delhi to Raipur by Indigo flight 6E-204. Everyone had boarded the flight, when our leader Pawan Khera was asked to get off the flight. This is dictatorial attitude,” the Congress has tweeted from its official handle.

Leaders of the party eventually got off the plane and staged a protest on the airport tarmac, right next to the plane.

“I was told that there is an issue with my baggage, though I only had hand baggage. They told me you can’t fly. Then they said the DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) will meet you. I have been waiting for a long time. There is no sign of law and order,” Pawan Khera said, according to NDTV.

In the video shared by Congress’s Jairam Ramesh, he appears to say the same thing.

Ramesh, addressing a press conference, said that the SC’s relief to Khera shows that the judiciary is a “light of hope” amidst such absurd action against the opposition.

He particularly attacked Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, saying whenever the BJP has to target an opposition leader, he is “unusually active” in getting FIRs filed against the leader in some remote corner of Assam. Three FIRs have been filed against Khera, including the one in Assam.

“Although India is showing itself as the mother of democracy at the international stage, such action shows that not only freedom of speech is in danger but also freedom after speech (as is the case against Khera),” Ramesh said in Raipur, where the party’s plenary session is to be held from February 24-26.