Congress leader Pawan Khera addressed a press conference, in Guwahati, along with Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaurav Gogoi, making the claim that Riniki Bhuyan Sharma had multiple passports, which led to the FIR against Khera.
Telangana HC grants anticipatory bail to Pawan Khera over FIR by Assam CM’s wife
Court provides a 7-day window for Khera to move the court, after a fiery hearing marked by barbs like "constitutional cowboys" and "international khiladi'
The Telangana high court on Friday (April 10) granted Congress leader Pawan Khera anticipatory bail for one week in a case related to an FIR filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, wife of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, over allegations that she held multiple passports.
According to Live Law, Justice K Sujana, while pronouncing the order, said, “The petitioner is granted time for one week to file an application before the concerned court… relief is granted to the petitioner for one week, subject to conditions.'
On Thursday, the pre-arrest bail hearing had turned into a fiery legal battle, as lawyers from both sides traded sharp insults like "constitutional cowboys" and "international khiladi".
The case
The case stems from an FIR filed by the Assam Police after Khera alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, possessed secret foreign passports and overseas assets. Khera had made these allegations at a press conference on April 5, where Khera alleged that the Chief Minister's wife held multiple passports and undisclosed foreign assets.
The allegations were dismissed by the Sarma family as "false, fabricated and malicious".
In response to these claims, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma filed a complaint leading to charges of forgery, cheating, criminal intimidation, conspiracy, and defamation against the Congress leader.
'Are we living in the Wild West?'
During the proceedings, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on Khera's behalf that the FIR contained every possible charge to exert political pressure, maintaining that even if the statements were proven incorrect, the matter was strictly one of defamation and did not warrant an arrest.
Also read: Passport row rocks Assam polls: Serious allegation or election theatre?
He urged the court to grant pre-arrest bail, stating he is a law-abiding citizen with no criminal antecedents and is willing to cooperate with the investigation.
Khera is "not absconding" and is ready to cooperate, said Singhvi slamming the Assam government's move to send a large police force for a defamation complaint. He described such actions the behaviour of "constitutional cowboys" and "jungle raj".
"Are we living in the wild west where, for a complaint like this, you have to arrest me? In the FIR, every imaginable offence is listed. The allegation is that I held a press conference and I made defamatory statements against you. Just to harass me you have added every offence that can be imagined," a report in Bar and Bench quoted Singhvi as saying.
"I am a political opponent. If you start arresting people like this, this becomes nothing but jungle raj," Singhvi said. "We are not living in an age of constitutional cowboys. We are not living in an age of malice, whipping out things from the holster and sending 100 people from Assam to Nizamuddin for what the complaint says is a defamation case," he added.
International khiladi
In contrast, Assam’s advocate General Devajit Saikia rejected the "banana republic" characterisation, labeling Khera an "international khiladi", who fled Delhi to avoid police. Saikia claimed Khera is a flight risk with 19 pending cases and alleged that foreign currency was seized from his home.
Claiming that Khera was a flight risk, the lawyer stated that he didn't deserve protection from any legal action.