'Personal Liberty a Cherished Right,' Says SC, Grants Anticipatory Bail to Pawan Khera in Assam Case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court granted anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera in connection with the FIR registered by Assam Police on the complaint made by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma. Days ahead of the Assam assembly elections, Khera had alleged that she held multiple passports.
LiveLaw reported that a bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and A.S. Chandurkar had reserved the judgment on Thursday (April 30) on Khera's petition challenging the Gauhati high court's dismissal of his anticipatory bail application. It was released on Friday morning.
The top court observed that the high court’s observation was "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 bench said that the high court was wrong in making observations regarding offence under Section 339 () of the BNS, when the FIR did not contain any such allegations.
The high court could not have made such observations merely on the statement of the Advocate General, the bench noted.
The top court said 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."
"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 Supreme Court said, ordering that Khera be released on anticipatory bail in the event of his arrest in the case.
The Court also recorded in the judgment that Sarma made some "unparliamentary remarks" against Khera, threatening his arrest.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has directed Khera to cooperate with the investigation, and appear before the investigating officer as and when required, and not leave India without the prior leave of the court. The regular conditions that he should not tamper with the evidence were also imposed.
"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 top 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," it noted.
Sarma and Khera had got into a tussle ahead of the elections, with the Assam chief minister even sending security officials to Khera’s residence. At a press conference in Delhi on April 5, Khera had displayed copies of the passports allegedly issued to Sarma’s wife by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Antigua and Barbuda. All the three copies claimed by Khera to be her passports showed the validity period till 2027, 2029 and 2031 respectively.
He had demanded that Sarma be disqualified from contesting the April 9 elections and be “arrested” for not disclosing his wife’s assets.
Sarma, however, countered the allegations and pointed to what he called “discrepancies” in the passport photographs produced by the Congress, that the documents used the spelling Sarma instead of the “official” Sharma that his wife goes by.
Further, Sarma had also claimed that the Congress’s allegations against his wife “was supplied by a Pakistani social media group”.
An Assam Police team, along with the Delhi police, had arrived at Khera’s Delhi residence on April 7.
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