Assam Police to follow case against Pawan Khera to logical end: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. File Pic

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that the state police will follow the case against senior Congress leader Pawan Khera for allegedly using "uncivilised language" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to its "logical end".

The chief minister who also holds the home portfolio, however, did not elaborate on the next course of action by the Assam police to bring the case to a logical end.

"We hope that keeping sanctity of public spaces, no one will use uncivilised language in political discourse hereafter. @assampolice will follow the matter to its logical end," the Chief Minister tweeted.

A police case was registered against Khera at Haflong police station in Assam's Dima Hasao district of Assam for his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The majesty of law shall always prevail. The accused has tendered an unconditional apology (para 7)," he further posted on the micro-blogging site quoting the Supreme Court. He also attached the apex court order granting interim bail to Khera.

Also Read: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calls Pawan Khera's arrest as 'Hitlershahi'

Para seven of the SC order, as mentioned by Sarma in his tweet, stated that the petitioner (Khera) would not press the prayer for quashing the FIRs against him since he was advised to pursue the remedies available to him in accordance with the law before the appropriate high court. Khera was arrested on Thursday by Assam Police at the IGI airport in Delhi after being deplaned from a Delhi-Raipur flight in connection with his alleged remarks against the prime minister. He was on his way to Raipur for the Congress plenary session.

The case against Khera was registered under various sections of the IPC, including 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national interest), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

FIRs were also filed against him in Lucknow and Varanasi on similar allegations.

He was released on interim bail by Supreme Court on Thursday.

The apex court order said that the petition by Khera pressed for clubbing the FIRs in one jurisdiction since it has been urged that the 'gravamen' of all FIRs against him lodged in Lucknow, Varanasi and Dima Hasao is one and the same - namely the press conference at which certain objectionable words were stated.

The judges further observed that Khera's counsel had stated that he had since clarified that the use of the language (against the prime minister) was "Inadvertent, though inappropriate, and that he would not stand by the use of such language..... and that the petitioner tenders an unconditional apology".

This is the second incident when a case was filed against a Congress leader by Assam Police. The first was that of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani who was arrested by Assam Police on April 19 2022 from Palanpur in Gujarat and brought to Kokrajhar in the northeastern state for tweeting against Modi.

Mevani was rearrested as soon as he was granted bail in the case on April 25, 2022 in connection with another litigation in Barpeta district of Assam on a complaint by a woman police officer alleging that she was assaulted by him while being taken to Kokrajhar by a posse of police personnel in a vehicle from Guwahati airport. He was later granted bail by a Barpeta Court.

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