Assam, UP oppose Pawan Khera plea in Supreme Court to club FIRs; claim apology only tactical submission without actual remorse

The Assam and Uttar Pradesh governments have opposed the plea by Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera seeking clubbing of the three first information reports (FIRs) registered against him in the two States after he botched up the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a press conference [Pawan Khera vs State of Assam and ors]. .The Assam government in its affidavit said that the apology tendered by Khera's counsel during the hearing of the case before the apex court was only a tactical one to get a favourable order, and not due to genuine remorse. "The submission before this Hon'ble Court tendering an apology clearly appears to be a tactical submission to get a preventive Order without any genuine remorse or repentance. A closer look at the available audio video clearly reveals that the petitioner has mischievously uttered sentences not only with an extreme degree of irresponsibility but reducing the level of discourse at its lowest," the Assam government's affidavit filed through advocate Shuvodeep Roy said. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government in its affidavit said that the Congress spokesperson by moving the top court is attempting to 'leapfrog' the normal procedure in a criminal case under Code of the Criminal Procedure (CrPC). "The Petitioner is not entitled to seek the intervention of this Court in the course of an investigation. It is submitted that the petition under Article 32 constitutes an attempt at leapfrogging the routine normal procedure available under the CrPC," it was submitted. .When the matter was heard today, a bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said it had not examined the counter-affidavits, and adjourned the matter for March 17.The interim protection from arrest for Khera will continue till then, the bench said.Khera has been booked for offences under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc.) and Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)..At a recently held press conference, Khera had botched up PM Narendra Modi's name while demanding a joint parliamentary probe 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.He later appeared to confirm the middle name with a colleague.The BJP alleged that Khera deliberately flubbed the name.Subsequently, two FIRs were later registered against Khera in UP and one in Assam. Khera was picked up from the Delhi airport on February 23 after he had boarded a plane to Chhattisgarh's Raipur where he was headed for a meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).He was deplaned and then taken by the Assam Police based on a first information report (FIR) registered against him.He moved the top court the very same day which granted him interim protection and also sought the responses of the two States to club the FIRs and transfer the case to one police station. .The UP government's affidavit said that Khera through his plea before the top court has sought to stall the probe into the defamatory statements he deliberately made against PM Modi's late father. The Assam government in its counter flagged the conduct of other Congress officials on social media in their responses to the matter, stating that 'they continued the very same low level'. "The question as to why the petitioner uttered the subject utterances, what was the motivation, at whose behest and to achieve which ultimate end ... will be the subject matter of investigation," it was submitted.Further, Khera's actions were not unintentional. Pertinently, the Assam government stated that the material of the criminal complaints in UP are 'qualitatively different' from the FIR in Assam, and thus both need independent probe and the FIRs should not be clubbed.