Bail for Khera granted: Supreme Court allows anticipatory bail for Pawan Khera; Questions political motivations behind FIR

Guwahati: The Supreme Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera in connection with an FIR lodged by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, with Assam Police over Khera’s allegation that she held multiple passports.Earlier, on Thursday, a bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice AS Chandurkar had reserved their judgment on Khera’s petition challenging the Gauhati high court’s order to deny him pre-arrest bail.The court in its judgement observed that Gauhati high court’s observation “is not based on correct appreciation of all the material which has been placed on record and appears to be erroneous, in particular shifting the burden on the accused.”“The right to personal liberty is a cherished fundamental right, and any deprivation thereof must be justified on a higher threshold, particularly where the surrounding circumstances may indicate the presence of political overtones,” the SC bench stated.“In addition, without alleging any offence under Section 339 of BNS and merely on the basis of statements made by the Advocate General, observations made regarding Section 339 of BNS do not appear to be correct,” the court stated.The bench said “the allegations and the counter allegations, prima facie, appear to be politically motivated and seemingly influenced by such rivalry, rather than disclosing a situation warranting custodial interrogation, and the veracity of the allegations can be tested at trial.”The bench further said it primarily appeared that Khera brought the allegations merely to gain some political momentum in favour of his political party. “Albeit, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the Chief Minister of the state, who is also husband of the complainant (Riniki Bhuyan Sharma), has made certain unparliamentary remarks against the appellant (Khera) in various press statements which have been filed before this court,” the court said.While granting anticipatory bail to Khera, the apex court has directed him to co-operate in the investigation and to appear before the police station as and when required.Khera has also been directed not to influence or tamper with any of the evidence during pendency of the investigation or trial. The court has further directed him not to leave India without prior permission of the court.