The Supreme Court extended the interim bail granted to Congress leader Pawan Khera till March 3 in an FIR over his comment against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The court granted time to Assam and Uttar Pradesh to file replies to plea of Khera that all FIRs lodged against him be clubbed into one.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Assam, that the state police wanted to file its reply.
Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, also said that she will also be filing the response in the matter. The court earlier granted him bail until February 28 and sought response of Assam and Uttar Pradesh governments on clubbing of multiple FIRs against the Congress leader.
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Why was Khera in the news?
Khera recently referred to the prime minister as "Narendra Gautamdas Modi" while criticising the Central government over the row involving the business conglomerate headed by Gautam Adani. Delhi BJP staged a protest last week near Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's residence, demanding an apology over her party spokesperson Pawan Khera's "disgraceful" remark.
A case has been registered at Haflong police station in Assam against Khera under various sections of the IPC, including 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national interest), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), for his alleged remarks against the prime minister.
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Khera was on his way to Raipur for the Congress plenary session when he was arrested by the Delhi police.
(With PTI inputs)
