Supreme Court Adjourns Congress Leader Pawan Khera's Plea for Quashing of Criminal Proceedings over Alleged 'Gautam Das' Remark against PM Modi

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned to Monday, October 16, the hearing of a plea by Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera for quashing of criminal proceedings against him over an alleged remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra was hearing a special leave petition against an order of the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash the criminal proceedings against Khera over his alleged 'Narendra Gautam Das Modi' comment made at a press conference in Mumbai.Before the hearing was deferred until next week, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Congress leader, briefly made his submissions on the sustainability of the criminal proceedings. Khera had clarified that his comment was made inadvertently and he promptly apologised for it in a separate tweet, the senior counsel told the bench at the outset. "This is noted in the order.""Second, and more importantly, see the stretching of the sections," Singhvi continued, taking the court through the charges levelled against Khera, which include that of defamation, attempting to degrade and destablise the nation, promoting enmity and hatred between different groups, and disturbing public peace. "This was not the intention at all. They have completely stretched it," Singhvi exclaimed.After this, the senior counsel sought a pass-over so that a chart of relevant judgments could be presented to the bench. Although initially the bench had only passed over the matter, in the end, it adjourned the hearing until Monday.BackgroundCongress leader and spokesperson Pawan Khera has been embroiled in a controversy over his ‘Narendra Gautam Das Modi' remark at a press conference in February this year. This led to multiple first information reports being registered against him and the Assam police arresting him in the same month. Khera is facing charges under Sections 153A (promoting communal enmity), 153B (imputations prejudicial to national integration), 500 (defamation), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code.On the same day as his arrest, the Supreme Court granted Khera temporary relief and directed his release on interim bail till the next date of hearing. The interim relief was later extended from February 28 to March 3, and again till March 17.On March 20, the Supreme Court clubbed the FIRs registered against him at Varanasi and Assam and transferred them to the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Khera was also granted liberty to apply for regular bail before the jurisdictional court in the matter. In August, Khera was granted bail by a local court in Lucknow.The Congress spokesperson also approached the Allahabad High Court seeking the quashing of the summons order and chargesheet filed against him. He also tendered alongside an unconditional apology for the purported incident. The high court, however, declined to grant him any relief and dismissed his plea. Justice Rajeev Singh observed that the evidence collected by the investigating officer could not be assessed by the court during the ongoing proceedings under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Proceedings. The court also directed Khera to raise all contentions before the jurisdictional court, in terms of the Supreme Court's March 20 directive.Case DetailsPawan Khera v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr. | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 13143 of 2023

Supreme Court Adjourns Congress Leader Pawan Khera's Plea for Quashing of Criminal Proceedings over Alleged 'Gautam Das' Remark against PM Modi

Awstika Das

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