Why Congress leader Pawan Khera has been booked, and what Supreme Court said

Apart from ordering that Pawan Khera be granted interim bail, the Supreme Court issued notice to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Assam, where FIRs have been filed against him, on Khera's petition seeking their consolidation.

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Congress leader Pawan Khera being taken into police custody from a plane, at the New Delhi airport on Feb 23. (Photo: PTI)

By: Explained Desk

4 min readNew DelhiFeb 24, 2023 08:24 AM IST First published on: Feb 23, 2023 at 06:51 PM IST

The Supreme Court Thursday directed a court in Dwarka to grant interim bail to senior Congress leader Pawan Khera, who was arrested by the Assam Police from the Delhi airport earlier in the day. An FIR had been lodged against Khera for his remarks against PM Modi at a press conference.

The Supreme Court bench, of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice MR Shah said, “In order to protect the petitioner until such date as he applies for regular bail before the jurisdictional court upon the FIRs being transferred to one and the same jurisdiction, we direct that till the next date of listing, the petitioner shall be released on interim bail by the court of the competent magistrate in Delhi where he is to be produced this evening. The above order shall remain in operation till Tuesday.”

CJI Chandrachud said, “We will protect you, but there has to be some level of discourse…”

What was Pawan Khera booked under?

Speaking at a press conference in Delhi recently to demand an investigation by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) against the Gautam Adani Group, Khera had referred to the Prime Minister as “Narendra Gautamdas Modi.”

A BJP member in Assam, Samuel Changsan, then approached the police against the Congress leader, and an FIR was registered at the Haflong police station, Dima Hasao, on Wednesday.

Khera was booked under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 153 A, 153 B (1) (promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc.), 500 (defamation), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (1) (2) (Statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.

Complaints against him have also been filed in Uttar Pradesh.

The PM’s full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi, wherein the middle name is his father’s. On February 17, Khera tweeted, “I genuinely got confused whether it is Damodardas or Gautam Das…”

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And what happened in Supreme Court?

Apart from ordering that Khera be granted interim bail, the SC issued notice to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Assam, where FIRs have been filed against him, on Khera’s petition seeking their consolidation.

“We are inclined to entertain the plea confined to issue whether FIR should be clubbed or not. Such course of action has been adopted in Arnab Ranjan Goswami case. We also accept that, taken on their face value, the spoken words do not lead to the sections invoked in the FIR. Hence, we order – issue notice on the prayer to transfer and club all FIRs registered against Khera. Notice to Assam and State of UP,” the order said, as reported by Bar and Bench.

Appearing for Khera, senior Advocate AS Singhvi told the court that Khera had apologised and said that the remarks were a “slip of tongue”.

Singhvi said that while he personally does not approve of the remarks, they “should not lead to arrest”.

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Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Assam, said Khera’s statement was made deliberately, and passed on a video of the press conference to the Bench, claiming the Congress leader’s “demenour” showed his intent.

“This statement is made with an intent so that public discourse is taken away and it incites public disaffection. It is against a duly elected Prime Minister of the country. It is deliberate and calculative,” Bhati said, as reported by Bar and Bench.

Who is Pawan Khera?

Khera began his political life in Udaipur in the 1980s as a Youth Congress activist. From 1998, he had a long stint as a key aide of former Delhi Chief Minister late Sheila Dikshit.

Around 2018, Khera emerged as the television face of the Congress, putting forth the party’s stand vociferously and aggressively. In 2018, he was promoted to national spokesperson. Last year, while he was overlooked for a Rajya Sabha berth, the Congress appointed him Chairman of the Media & Publicity Department.