New Delhi: The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in an anticipatory bail plea filed by Congress leader Pawan Khera in a defamation and forgery case registered against him by the Assam Police after he made allegations against the wife of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
A bench of justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar heard the contentions of the counsels for Khera and the Assam Police before reserving its judgement. Khera said there is no necessity to arrest him and that his statements will, at the most, attract only the offence of defamation and not the offences of forgery and public mischief invoked by the Assam Police.
However, the counsel for the Assam Police argued that Khera had paraded forged documents, including passports, to make false claims. Thus, his custody would be necessary to ascertain who his accomplices were and whether there were foreign elements involved.
An FIR stands registered against Khera under sections 175 (false statement in connection with an election), 35, 36, 318 (cheating), 338, (forgery of valuable will, security etc), 337 (forgery of record of court or of public register, etc), 340 (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine), 352 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace), 356 (defamation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station.
