'There has to be some level of discourse': SC grants interim bail to Cong leader Pawan Khera

Court issued notice to Assam, UP police for clubbing of FIRs against Khera and put the matter for hearing on Monday

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim bail to Congress party leader Pawan Khera in a case over an alleged derogatory statement made by him against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's father.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices M R Shah and P S Narasimha allowed him relief till Tuesday only in the FIR lodged by the Assam Police.

The court, which heard the video clip of the statement, said, "We have protected you. But there has to be some level of discourse".

Earlier on the day, Khera was deboarded from a flight to Raipur here and apprehended by the police. He was on his way to Raipur to attend the plenary session of the Party on Friday.

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Arguing on Khera's behalf before the top court, senior advocate A M Singhvi contended he had already apologised for his statement and there was no basis for lodging of FIR.

He said as many as three FIRs one each in Lucknow and Varanasi and another in Assam had been lodged against him.

The court issued notice to the Assam and Uttar Pradesh police on his plea for clubbing of the FIRs and put the matter for hearing on Monday.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Assam police opposed the plea, contending the petitioner purposefully made the statement against the duly elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world.

Singhvi, for his part, said, "I don't support this (remark), but it can't be invoked under Section 153 A and 295 A of the IPC. I am accepting it is a mistake."

The counsel who mentioned the matter to seek an urgent hearing also said the police had failed to give advance notice under Section 41 A of the Criminal Procedure Code as mandated by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar judgement before arrest in a case for offences not carrying maximum punishment upto seven years jail term.