Supreme Court extends Pawan Khera's interim protection from arrest

The Supreme Court on Monday extended the interim bail granted to Congress leader Pawan Khera till March 3, in a case related to his alleged objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Khera was arrested on Feburary 23, at the Delhi airport after being deplaned from a flight to Raipur in connection with his alleged remarks against Modi, made at a press conference on February 17 at Mumbai.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and fixed Khera’s plea for hearing on March 3 making it clear that the interim bail, granted to him on February 23, will remain in force till then.

The Assam government and Uttar Pradesh have been asked to file their replies and the tentative hearing for the same will be held on Friday.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal had hit out against Pawan Khera's arrest and said, "Using a flimsy FIR to restrict his movement & silence him is a shameful, unacceptable act. The entire party stands with Pawan ji."

"The episode highlights the cavalier use of the power to arrest under political instruction. It is one thing to denounce a comment as offensive or hurtful, but quite another to read into it crimes such as making assertions against national integration, outraging religious sentiments or causing enmity in society," says The Hindu.

Similar reponses were seen across twitter where people accused the goverment of abuse of power and use of police to settle political vendetta.