Himanta wife passport dispute: Why SC retains Pawan Khera’s transit anticipatory bail

New Delhi: In a setback for Congress leader Pawan Khera, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Telangana High Court’s order granting him one-week transit anticipatory bail over the chargesheet. assam Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.However, the Supreme Court said the Congress leader can seek anticipatory bail from the competent court, which means seeking bail from the Assam court where the FIR was registered.

The Supreme Court’s intervention comes after the Assam government challenged the High Court’s April 10 order, arguing that Kaira had sought wrong avenues of relief.Assam Inspector General of Police Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam Police, challenged the maintainability of the plea in the Telangana High Court, pointing out what he called “the patent lacks territorial jurisdiction”. He submitted that the FIR was registered in Assam and Khera did not explain why he could not seek anticipatory bail there.Mehta also pointed out that Kaira sought anticipatory bail in Telangana without clearly proving his presence in the state, adding that “mere possession of some property” did not confer jurisdiction.He told the judge it was a case of “complete abuse of process” and “forum selection”.During the hearing, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari noted that Kaira cited his wife’s residence in Hyderabad. However, the Solicitor General countered that even Khera’s Aadhaar record reflected a Delhi address and that occasional travel or property ownership did not justify jurisdiction, LiveLaw reported.The Telangana High Court had earlier granted Keira a week-long limited transit anticipatory bail. The court noted that his concerns about arrest appeared to be “reasonable and supported by the material in the record,” while imposing a number of conditions, including cooperating with the investigation and limiting public statements that could harm the investigation.The Assam government challenged the order, arguing that Kaira had not proven any compelling reason to bypass the courts in Assam, where the case was registered.The FIR lodged at Guwahati Crime Branch police station stemmed from Khera’s April 5 accusation against Riniki Bhuyan Sarma of possessing multiple foreign passports and undeclared overseas assets, a charge rejected by the Sarma family as “false and fabricated”.

The case has been registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which include sections related to false statements related to elections and cheating.