Congress hails anticipatory bail to Pawan Khera, says SC verdict affirms liberty
New Delhi: The Congress party on Friday hailed the Supreme Court order granting anticipatory bail to senior party leader Pawan Khera, in connection with the FIR lodged by Assam Police on a complaint by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.
Addressing a press conference, Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh and party MP Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Apex Court’s verdict underscores that personal liberty remains paramount and the arrest must not be a routine step but the “last resort”, particularly in cases related to alleged defamation.
Dr Singhvi, also the counsel for Pawan Khera, said that the SC ruling reinforces the legal principle that the “triple test” – risk of flight, tampering with evidence, or influencing witnesses – must justify any arrest, failing which custodial action risks becoming a tool for “humiliation, harassment and political point-scoring”.
He stressed that the Congress was not celebrating the outcome but drawing lessons.
Claiming that the SC relief reaffirmed their faith in the country’s judiciary, Jairam Ramesh remarked that this shows that the flame of justice is very much alive in our country.
Dr Singhvi further said that the case went through multiple judicial forums – from a magistrate’s court in Assam’s Kamrup district to the Telangana High Court, the Supreme Court, the Gauhati High Court, and back to the apex court, but eventually, at the end, the judiciary protected against the injustice.
He pointed out that the Assam government’s plea for Khera’s arrest was “fanciful, speculative, and unsubstantiated,” and that it was rejected by a local magistrate, exemplifying how the lower judiciary safeguards against executive overreach.
He said that most of the charges invoked were bailable, arguing that the plea for custodial interrogation was unwarranted and contrary to established jurisprudence on anticipatory bail and the presumption of innocence.
Singhvi said the judgment recognises that the remarks were made during a political campaign and that democratic systems must allow reasonable latitude for political speech to preserve freedom of expression.
The senior Congress leader also criticised statements by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as “unparliamentary and unacceptable”, and added that they risked eroding constitutional norms.
He also urged the Assam Chief Minister to look within and introspect on the language he used and hoped that the latter expresses regret, if not an apology, for the same, stating that this will only elevate his and the overall democratic standards.
He also informed that the Solicitor General did not defend the controversial statements in court, calling it a significant aspect of the proceedings.