The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the transit anticipatory bail granted to Congress leader Pawan Khera by Telangana High Court in a case registered by the Assam Police, Bar and Bench reported.
Transit anticipatory bail is a temporary protection from arrest granted in one state to enable persons to approach the courts where the case has been filed.
The High Court had granted relief to Khera on April 10 after the Congress leader approached it seeking protection following a first information report filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The FIR was filed after the Congress leader claimed on April 5 that he had documentary evidence that showed that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma holds passports of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda. Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife refuted the allegations.
The case was registered at the Crime Branch Police Station in Guwahati on charges of defamation, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
After the High Court issued its order, the Assam government approached the Supreme Court.
In the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam Police, said that there was nothing in Khera’s petition that established territorial jurisdiction in Telangana, Live Law reported.
He added that the High Court also overlooked the fact that one of the offences the Congress leader had been accused of carried a maximum punishment of 10-year imprisonment.
The court noted that Khera had earlier submitted during the hearing that his wife was living in Hyderabad. In response, the solicitor general said that her Aadhaar card showed her to be a resident of Delhi.
“If this is the case, a person can buy properties across the country, and seek anticipatory bail from the places they choose,” Live Law quoted Mehta as saying. “This is forum-shopping, if not forum-choosing.”
Describing it as a “complete abuse of process”, the solicitor general added that Khera, in his petition, had not explained why he could not approach courts in Assam or whether his wife owned property in Hyderabad.
On its part, the Supreme Court observed that it was “surprised” by the High Court’s order.
On April 7, the Assam Police went to Khera’s home in Delhi to question him in connection with his claims about the Assam chief minister and his wife.
Khera was not at home when the police arrived, and the authorities searched the house, said Assam Police Assistant Commissioner Debojit Nath.
Nath added that electronic devices and “incriminating material” were seized from Khera’s home. However, he did not disclose what the material was.
On April 6, Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that the documents cited by the Congress had been supplied by a Pakistani social media group.
The chief minister had also claimed that the Congress had used details from a passport that had been allegedly lost. This document, he claimed, had been uploaded to the Pakistani social media group. “They photoshopped it,” he said at a press conference.
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