Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera gets anticipatory bail from Supreme Court in an FIR filed by the Assam CM’s wife against accusations for holding multiple passports
Finally the senior Congress leader vociferous for his anti establishment stance and spokesman of CONGRESS party Pawan Khera has got anticipatory bail from the apex court. He got the bail today from the two judge bench comprising of Justices J.K.Bannerjee and A. S.Chadurkar who had yesterday kept the order reserved hearing his okea against the Guwahati High Court order cancelling his request for anticipatory bail against the FIR filed by the Assam police on the complaint of the wife of chief minister of Assam Mrs Rinki Bhuyan Sarma over Pawan Lheta’s accusations that she had multiple passports including that of Panama Island. While giving the judgement which was out today it has been revealed that the two judge bench said that the observation made by the High Court “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 Court also observed that the allegations and 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.”
According to Live Laws News “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 Court said.
This giving relief to the Congress leader whose cousel is Abhishek Manu Singhvi who had yesterday said during the hearing that , the this is nothing but absolutely witch hunting, the two judge bench of apex court said : Khera be released on anticipatory bail in the event of his arrest in the case. He was directed to cooperate with the investigation, and appear before the investigating officer as and when required. He is also directed to not leave India without the prior leave of the Court. The regular conditions that he should not tamper with the evidence are also imposed said the Live Law news.
According to the Live Law the Court said that, having regard to the overall circumstances, relief needs to be granted, so that the right to personal liberty is not put to jeopardy.
“At this stage, we are cognizant of the fact that personal liberty of an individual enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India cannot be put to jeopardy lightly. But at the same time, we are also of the view that for any offences as alleged in the FIR, the investigation should be completed with integrity and in full swing with co-operation of the Appellant,” the Court stated.
“Having regard to the aforesaid considerations, we are of the opinion that while adjudicating an application for anticipatory bail, a careful balance must be struck between the State’s interest in ensuring a fair investigation and the individual’s fundamental right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the Court noted.
