The Telangana High Court on Thursday reserved orders on a petition filed by senior Congress leader Pawan Khera seeking protection from arrest in connection with an FIR registered by the Assam Police on a complaint filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Khaira approached the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail before Single Judge K. Sujana, arguing that there was no justification for the arrest in what was considered, “at the highest level”, an alleged defamation case, accused Sarma of using the state police to harass and intimidate him.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Khera, told the court that the Assam chief minister was acting with a political vendetta, and by sending the state police to go after Khera, he was acting like a “constitutional cowboy” who could “embarrass Rambo”.
The FIR itself framed the allegations against Khera as “defamatory assumptions”, raising questions about the necessity of custodial interrogation, Singhvi said.
“Do we live in the Wild West that we have to arrest someone in an alleged defamation case?” Singhvi asked, adding that invoking multiple offenses in the FIR, including cheating, forgery and criminal intimidation, was a “vicious and unwarranted misuse of the law” aimed at harassing and silencing a political opponent.
He told the court that Khaira, a prominent political figure, was neither a flight risk nor a habitual criminal and therefore did not need to be arrested at this stage.
Singhvi also stated that Khaira frequently resides in Hyderabad with his wife, who also contested the elections there, and was present in the city when the Assam Police reached his residence in Delhi. “Why can’t the police move forward without making an arrest?” he asked, alleging that the deployment of a large police team from Assam to Delhi within hours of the FIR being registered indicates “bad faith”.
“I am a political dissident. If I start arresting people like this, it will only become the Raj of the Jungle,” Singhvi said. “We do not live in the era of constitutional cowboys who pull things out of the bag and send 100 people from Assam to Nizamuddin over what the complaint says is a defamation case… It is not a coincidence that I use the term constitutional cowboy. He (Sarma) can disgrace Rambo,” he added.
Opposing the petition, Assam Police said the case went beyond mere defamation and involved serious allegations of forgery and fabrication of documents.
Assam Solicitor General Devajit Saikia told the court that Rinike Sharma denied the authenticity of the documents cited by Khaira, calling them “fake and forged”.
Saikia further said that Khaira “fled to Hyderabad” after learning that Assam Police was going to visit his residence in Delhi, arguing that his behavior showed that he was a “real flight risk”.
He also contended that Khera should have approached the Guwahati High Court or the Delhi Court instead of moving the Telangana HC for relief.
“There is not a single whisper here about why he cannot come to Assam and apply for anticipatory bail. He could have even moved a court in Delhi because he resides there. Instead, he is in Hyderabad. Even though he says he is not a flight risk, he is a real flight risk at this stage, and when the police went to him, he absconded,” Saikia said.
The FIR was registered on April 6 following a complaint lodged by Reneki Sharma after Khera claimed in a press conference that she holds several foreign passports and undeclared foreign assets.
After hearing both sides, Justice K. Sujana with his orders regarding Khaira’s petition.
