The Congress on Friday urged Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to reconsider his stand in the case against party spokesperson Pawan Khera after the Supreme Court granted protection to Kaira from arrest, observing that the allegations appear to be politically motivated and influenced by political rivalry.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi along with party general secretary Jairam Ramesh, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Khera in the Supreme Court, said Sarma could “really lift himself up” by expressing regret over the arrest proceedings.
“I would ask the honorable Prime Minister, and perhaps the caretaker Prime Minister, in another couple of days when he delivers the judgment, that whatever the outcome on Monday, would he not really wish to consider his position as reflected in the judgment?” Singhvi said.
Khaira accused Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, of possessing several foreign passports and undisclosed assets in the United States. Following these accusations, he was detained on charges of forgery, fraud and criminal defamation.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court granted Khair relief after he appealed the Supreme Court’s April 24 order denying him anticipatory bail. Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandorkar noted that the dispute appeared to have political overtones.
Responding to Singhvi on social media platform
“I don’t need lessons in democracy, public discourse or decency from anyone, especially from Abhishek Manu Singhvi… The real issue here is about a woman – who has nothing to do with politics – but whose character was assassinated on national television using forged documents from other countries… I am confident that the courts will take note of that, sooner or later, and the guilty will be punished for his brazen act of defaming the character of a woman by using forged documents to influence the election results… And let me be so,” Sarma said on Channel X. “Clearly this is just the beginning and not the end.”
Singhvi said many of the statements made by Sarma during the controversy were “unrepeatable, unprintable and unfixable”, adding that even the Solicitor General did not defend them before the Supreme Court despite them being in the public domain.
He said that this case reaffirms that the judiciary remains “the absolute basis of hope” when the personal freedom of citizens is at stake.
He said: “The procedures were a journey of steadfastness and continued belief in obtaining justice.”
Singhvi also said that arrest should be a “last resort” in matters involving reputational allegations, especially when custodial interrogation is unnecessary.
He said Khaira did not meet the “triple test” that could justify arrest, such as flight risk, unavailability for questioning, or ability to tamper with evidence.
“The sole purpose of arrest and interrogation, especially in a hostile political context, can be to humiliate, harass, and score a political point,” Singhvi said.
He added that nine out of the 11 articles relied upon against Khaira were bailable offences, and said that the Supreme Court upheld the presumption of innocence when the arrest was merely speculative.
“Every department that could be thought of in a hurry has been brought up against him,” Singhvi said.
He also referred to an order passed by a judicial magistrate on April 7, saying the court had then recorded reasons describing Khaira’s arrest allegation as “speculative, baseless and fanciful”.
“I would like to say humbly and without any condescension that this truly degrades our democracy. It does not make us any different from the constitutional wreckage and ruins we find in our neighbourhood,” Singhvi added.
