Supreme Court refuses relief to Khera in passport row case

In two consecutive legal setbacks, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Congress leader Pawan Khera’s plea seeking protection from arrest till April 20 in a case lodged against him for levelling charges against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife that she possesses multiple passports.

The top court asked Khera to move a court of competent jurisdiction in Assam for anticipatory bail in the case and made it clear that the court there will hear his plea without taking note of adverse remarks, if any, made by it and the Telangana High Court.

At a press conference on April 5, Khera alleged that the Assam Chief Minister’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, has multiple passports and foreign



property, which were not declared in Sarma’s affidavit for the April 9 Assembly polls in the state.

Sarma and his wife have rejected the allegations as false and fabricated.

The fresh order assumes significance in light of the fact that a bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar, on April 15, took note of the Assam government’s plea and stayed the Telangana High Court’s order granting Khera one-week transit anticipatory bail in the case.

The top court’s two successive orders, staying the transit bail granted by the Telangana High Court and refusing to protect Khera from arrest till April 20, may enable the Assam Police to take coercive measures against the Congress leader.