Comment against PM Modi: Supreme Court notice on Pawan Kheda’s petition demanding cancellation of proceedings

New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued notice on a petition filed by Congress spokesperson Pawan Kheda against the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash the criminal proceedings registered against him in connection with his alleged objectionable comments made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. . A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra agreed to investigate the matter and issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complaining BJP functionary. On August 17, a bench of Justice Rajeev Singh of the Lucknow High Court had refused to consider Kheda’s plea that he had tendered an unconditional apology before the Supreme Court and hence, all legal proceedings should be quashed. In March this year, the top court had ordered to combine the separate FIRs lodged against the Congress spokesperson in Assam and Varanasi and transfer them to Lucknow.

Two FIRs were registered against Kheda in UP and one in Assam. On February 23, Kheda was stopped from boarding a flight to Raipur and was arrested by Assam Police. Within hours, the apex court was approached and a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud granted him interim protection from arrest. In the subsequent hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kheda, had said that his client would tender an unconditional apology for his objectionable comments. The Uttar Pradesh and Assam governments had submitted before the apex court that despite Kheda’s lawyer apologizing in the court, no remorse has been expressed over his comments against the PM.