The governments of Assam and Uttar Pradesh have opposed Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera’s request to combine the three first information reports (FIRs) filed against him in the two states after he botched up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name at a news conference.
In its affidavit, the Assam government stated that Khera’s counsel’s apology during the hearing of the matter before the Supreme Court was just a strategy to obtain a favourable decision, rather than real regret.
However, the Uttar Pradesh government stated in its affidavit that the Congress spokesman is seeking to ‘leapfrog’ the established procedure in a criminal case under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
When the case was heard today, a bench consisting of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala stated that it had not studied the counter-affidavits and delayed it till March 17.
The interim protection from arrest for Khera will be extended until then, the bench said.
Khera has been charged with violating Indian Penal Code Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, etc.) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) (IPC).
Khera misspelt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name at a recent press conference while requesting a combined parliamentary enquiry into the Adani-Hindenburg row.
“If Narasimha Rao could form a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), if Atal Bihari Vajpayee could form a JPC, then what problem does Narendra Gautam Das…sorry Damodardas Modi have?” Khera had said.
Afterwards, he appeared to confirm the middle name with a colleague sitting next to him.
The BJP claimed that Khera purposefully misspelt his name.
After that, two FIRs were filed against Khera, one in UP and one in Assam.
